The money in the NBA can feel abstract until it isn’t, until it shows up in your account in a number your brain can’t immediately process. Cade Cunningham put that feeling into plain language in a story that’s quickly become one of the most relatable quotes attached to a not-so-relatable paycheck.
In a recent interview with GQ, the Detroit Pistons guard recalled the moment he first checked his bank balance after agreeing to his massive contract extension. Cunningham said he was sitting at a Sonic drive-thru when curiosity got the best of him. He looked down at his phone and, in his words, realized the account was “loaded like crazy,” adding that he could “buy the whole Sonic.”
The context matters: in July 2024, Cunningham agreed to a five-year maximum rookie extension reported at $224 million, with escalators that could raise the total to as much as $269 million depending on performance criteria. That’s the kind of figure that changes a life instantly, even for a No. 1 pick who’s known it was coming in theory.
What makes the Sonic story land isn’t just the size of the contract, but the setting. Not a velvet-rope moment or a champagne toast, just a young star in a fast-food line, refreshing his bank app like everyone else, only to find the decimal point has moved into a different universe.
