Cade Cunningham Chose Oklahoma State for Family and Relationships

Cade Cunningham chose Oklahoma State because of his relationship with the current roster and Mike Boynton. That could also aid in his plans about his basketball future as well depending on the upcoming season.

STILLWATER – Some of the best news to come out of Stillwater and Oklahoma State athletics in many months was the return of virtually the entire men’s basketball team, including the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2020 class, Cade Cunningham. The return of every player, as well as Cunningham, came with the explanation of family, unity and loyalty to Mike Boynton.

“At first, it was tough because when [they NCAA] first made the ruling, all emotions are running super high. So, you want to explore all your options,” said Cunningham told the media on Wednesday afternoon. “After kind of settling down and really looking into everything, at the end of the day, coach [Mike] Boynton is who I wanted to play for. It would’ve been tough for me to go play overseas and play for a foreign coach or even the G-League; I just hadn’t built a connection with anybody like that. Coach Boynton, I already had a great relationship with and that’s who I wanted to play for.”

For Cunningham, there was also the comfortability of playing with a unit he’s familiar with. He played with Isaac Likekele last summer for Team USA in the FIBA U19 World Cup, he played AAU ball on Texas Titans with Montreal Pena and Rondel Walker and there’s so many guys on the roster from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

“The whole team; there’s a lot of dudes from my area anyway,” said Cunningham of what helped his decision to stick with OSU. “Isaac [Likekele’s] from my area, he’s also from Arlington, Rondel Walker, I’d already played AAU with, Chris Harris, Avery [Anderson], Montreal [Pena]. There’s a lot of guys from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Being around those guys, I was already used to and I wanted to spend the year around people I’m comfortable with and family.”

One of the more surprising, and if you’re an Oklahoma State fan, exciting moments that came from the Zoom call on Wednesday was Cunningham’s response to his potential one-and-done status.

“That’s always been a goal of mine,” Cunningham said of playing in the NBA. “The NBA is the end goal for me; hopefully it’s in one year, but if it’s not, I’m comfortable with the people I’m around. I’m comfortable with that if I stay here four years, I’d be just as happy as I am going into this year. I’m not really worried about it, I feel like whenever it’s time for me to get into the NBA, I want to be able to last. So, if it means that I have to play here three years, then that’s what it takes. I’m more about staying in the NBA, so however long it takes. If it’s one year, then it’s one year and I’m going to try and make the most out of the year that I’m here.”

We’ve heard the phrase Family Over Everything, and we’ve heard from every player to come through the program the past three year’s how Mike Boynton is real and how Oklahoma State basketball is a family. For Cunningham, this family could potentially be enough to keep him in Stillwater for more than one year.

“I’d talk to my family about that,” said Cunningham. “It’s a tough call right now just because who knows what will happen, but I’ll talk with my family and see what the NBA is thinking, what the GMs are thinking and everything and just try to get as much feedback on what the best route for me would be and I’ll figure it out from there. I feel like that’s a super long shot, there’s no telling from right now, so I’m just trying to stay in the moment and keep working. But when we get there, I feel like I’ll make the best decision for me.”

There’s so much uncertainty right now surrounding sports and the upcoming seasons. There are proposals of potentially beginning the 2020-21 basketball season two weeks early, there’s talks of pushing everything back to the spring.

Oklahoma State has a history of great periods of basketball. With the direction Mike Boynton has the program headed, especially in recruiting, we could be seeing another great period of Cowboy basketball.

With that being said, if the NBA comes calling, with or without a 2020-21 season, and Cunningham is the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, I think it’d be hard to turn that down.