Dante Cunningham

Dante Cunningham

Cunningham (front) with the Timberwolves in January 2014
No. 33 – New Orleans Pelicans
Position Forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1987-04-22) April 22, 1987
Clinton, Maryland
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight 230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High school St. John's (Washington D.C.)
Potomac (Oxon Hill, Maryland)
College Villanova (2005–2009)
NBA draft 2009 / Round: 2 / Pick: 33rd overall
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Playing career 2009–present
Career history
2009–2011 Portland Trail Blazers
2011 Charlotte Bobcats
2011–2012 Memphis Grizzlies
2012–2014 Minnesota Timberwolves
2014–present New Orleans Pelicans
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Dante Lamar Cunningham (born April 22, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Cunningham was drafted in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2009 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Cunningham, a forward, played college basketball with the Villanova Wildcats.

Early life

Cunningham was born in Clinton, Maryland, to Searcy Blankenship and Ron Cunningham. His older sister Davalyn played in the WNBA.[1]

High school career

Cunningham began his prep career at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. While a junior, he averaged 10 points per game and 7.4 rebounds. One of his teammates, Dwayne Anderson, would later play at Villanova with Cunningham.[1]

As a senior, Cunningham transferred to Potomac High School, which he led to a 27–0 season under Head Coach Rico Reed. He averaged 13 rebounds, 20 points, and four blocked shots per game at Potomac. He was honored as the Washington Post Metropolitan Player of the Year.[1]

College career

Dante Cunningham at the Palestra in Philadelphia in November 2008

At Villanova University, Cunningham played in all 33 games and was a starter in four during his freshman year.[1]

In his senior year, Cunningham would go on to lead the team in scoring and take home the Big East Most Improved Player award. He led the Wildcats to their first Final Four appearance since 1985.

Professional career

Portland Trail Blazers (2009–2011)

Cunningham was drafted 33rd overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2009 NBA draft. He played for Portland's Las Vegas Summer League team where he averaged over 18 points and 5 rebounds per game in four contests. On August 21, 2009, Cunningham signed his rookie scale contract with the Trail Blazers.[2]

Charlotte Bobcats (2011)

On February 24, 2011, Cunningham was traded, along with Joel Przybilla, Sean Marks and two future first-round draft picks, to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Gerald Wallace.[3]

Memphis Grizzlies (2011–2012)

On December 20, 2011, Cunningham received a three-year, $7 million offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies.[4] The Bobcats declined to match the offer and subsequently signed the contract with the Grizzlies.[5]

Minnesota Timberwolves (2012–2014)

On July 24, 2012, Cunningham was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Wayne Ellington.[6]

New Orleans Pelicans (2014–present)

On December 4, 2014, Cunningham signed with the New Orleans Pelicans.[7] On July 9, 2015, he re-signed with the Pelicans.[8]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Portland 63 2 11.2 .495 .000 .646 2.5 .2 .4 .4 3.9
2010–11 Portland 56 9 19.8 .433 .000 .711 3.4 .5 .7 .6 5.1
2010–11 Charlotte 22 9 24.0 .508 .111 .765 4.0 .6 .7 .5 9.0
2011–12 Memphis 64 5 17.6 .516 .000 .652 3.8 .6 .7 .5 5.2
2012–13 Minnesota 80 9 25.1 .468 .000 .650 5.1 .8 1.1 .5 8.7
2013–14 Minnesota 81 7 20.2 .464 .000 .567 4.1 1.0 .8 .7 6.3
2014–15 New Orleans 66 27 25.0 .457 .100 .617 3.9 .8 .7 .6 5.2
2015–16 New Orleans 80 46 24.6 .451 .316 .695 3.0 1.0 .5 .4 6.1
Career 512 114 21.0 .469 .269 .653 3.7 .7 .7 .5 6.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010 Portland 5 0 8.4 .600 .000 .833 2.6 .0 1.0 .0 4.6
2012 Memphis 7 0 7.0 .364 .000 .000 1.6 .0 .1 .3 1.1
2015 New Orleans 4 0 18.8 .818 .000 1.000 4.5 .5 .8 1.0 5.3
Career 16 0 10.4 .595 .000 .889 2.6 .1 .6 .4 3.3

Personal life

On April 3, 2014, Cunningham was arrested for allegedly choking his girlfriend with whom he lived. Three days later, he was arrested on alleged domestic abuse charges.[9] By August 18, 2014, charges were dropped, due to evidence Cunningham's then girlfriend had fabricated her accusations.[10][11]

Cunningham was included on a preliminary list for Great Britain's Eurobasket 2009 qualifying matches in 2008.[12] However, he was later ruled ineligible to compete for Britain after an investigation by British Basketball officials into his ancestral ties failed to prove his case to receive UK citizenship.[13]

References

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