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Former Alabama forward Naas Cunningham reveals transfer destination, per report
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Former Alabama 4-star recruit Naas Cunningham has committed to play at UNLV next season, according to a report from 247Sports on Wednesday afternoon.
Cunningham entered the transfer portal in late March, right after the Crimson Tide’s season ended with a loss to Duke in the Elite Eight. It was a forgettable season for the forward who came to Tuscaloosa with such high expectations but was the lone player on Alabama’s roster this past season to not play 1 minute.
Instead, the 6-foot-7, 175-pound high-profile product and native of West Orange, N.J., decided to redshirt. Now, it appears he’ll never play for the Crimson Tide as he is reportedly taking his talents to Sin City and the Mountain West Conference. Cunningham will have 4 years of eligibility remaining starting this fall.
Cunningham was supposed to be a centerpiece of Alabama basketball as part of the Crimson Tide’s 2024 recruiting class, which was rated second in the nation. He was a 4-star guy coming out of SoCal Academy in California, and he was the 46th-ranked player overall in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Cunningham was also rated as the 13th-best small forward in the class, so there were high expectations for him in Tuscaloosa.
But Cunningham never got on the court at Coleman Coliseum to join a stacked Alabama team that had just gone to its first Final Four in program history. And now it appears the first minutes he plays as a college basketball player will be in Las Vegas for the Runnin’ Rebels.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
