Oklahoma State Basketball: Is Cade Cunningham a “decade-defining” recruit?
By Cody Larson
A decade-defining background
The groundwork of his stardom had already been laid, up to this point. Just a year prior, he had already cemented himself as the best basketball player in the state of Texas (as a sophomore) before choosing to play for the best basketball program in the country, Montverde Academy. Where he would on to put up 21 points in the 2019 Geico Nationals semi-final game.
His game was no secret in the United States, but had yet to have been tested on a global scale. That changed at the FIBA World Cup; specifically on July 7th, 2019 against Mali Basketball. With the stakes higher than they had arguably ever been for Cunningham (a junior in high school at the time) he dropped 21 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists for a gold medal victory.
He was the best, most-controlled player on the court – a court that he was sharing with a potential lottery pick this year, Tyrese Haliburton, and the earlier mentioned top-ranked 2020 recruit Jalen Green. Cunningham describes that game as the most exciting game that he has ever played in, and for his followers, that same excitement would never cease to exist.
Because his senior year, which would soon follow, was the nail in the “stardom coffin” that he built upon in the World Cup. It was his senior year at Montverde Academy where Cunningham cemented the earlier-seen signs of him being a “decade-defining” recruit.
Despite that cementing being cut short due to COVID-19, Montverde Academy managed to make a case for themselves as one of the best high school teams to ever play. They had a perfect 25-0 record and it was a rarity for them to win by less than 40 points, despite playing some of the best competition across the country.
Cunningham was the star attraction of that team; the driving force who set the team’s mantra on both ends of the floor. While only playing 22 minutes per game, he averaged 13.9 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per contest (including a +30.8 plus/minus per game). Even in minimal minutes, Cunningham showed everything one might expect to see in a player being proclaimed as a “decade-defining” recruit.