The 2021 NBA Draft class will likely go down as one of the better ones in recent memory, with Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, and Scottie Barnes all looking like stars in their own right. But the player who got picked number one overall is awfully glad he didn’t end up with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Whenever the (NBA Draft) lottery was happening, and it started cutting down, I’m like don’t let me go to Cleveland,” Cunningham said in an interview with Kevin Durant on Boardroom Cover Story. “I was a big
Bron fan growing up, but I’m not trying to go to Cleveland.”
The Cavs ended up getting a pretty good player in Mobley, who is already a Defensive Player of the Year winner. Cleveland has a history of draft prospects not wanting to end up there, so this is not exactly surprising. But it’s never a good feeling when a player as good as Cunningham openly says he does not want to play for your team.
For what it’s worth, Cunningham also said he did not necessarily want to play for the other team that had a top-three pick, the Houston Rockets. Cunningham is from Arlington and relished the idea of not being so close to where he grew up.
At the end of the day, none of this matters given both the Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons have made out well with their respective selections. Cunningham is well on his way to being not just a star in the league, but a superstar (and who now has a signature shoe deal with Nike). He already has an All-NBA nomination, making the third team last season en route to turning around a Detroit organization that had flailed for years.
Mobley is, of course, arguably one of the five best defensive players in the league, and he continues to evolve his offensive arsenal as a paint player and three-point shooter.
Besides, what’s really the difference between Cleveland and Detroit anyway?
