Cleveland Cavaliers: Jared Cunningham Continues To Raise Eyebrows In Preseason

While NBA preseason games don’t mean much for veteran players, the upside to these contests is that younger players are given a chance to showcase their talents. For example, let’s take a look at Jared Cunningham, who is a training camp invitee for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Following his third season at Oregon State, a year in which he averaged 17.9 points, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game, Cunningham was selected by the Cavaliers with the No. 24 pick in the 2012 draft. Unfortunately, he was traded the next day in a transaction that sent him to the Dallas Mavericks for Tyler Zeller.

Since then, Cunningham’s basketball journey has not been an easy one. In fact, he has spent the first few years of his NBA career with four different teams (Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers) along with a couple of D-League teams as well.

Furthermore, he has played a total of just 40 games in four seasons, 19 of which came with the Clippers during the 2014-15 campaign. And in those 19 contests, Cunningham averaged just 1.8 points in 4.7 minutes per outing.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/9/2015.

Fast forward to the present day, armed with another opportunity to show what he can bring to the table, Cunningham has played very well for the Cavs in the preseason so far. In a game against the Hawks on Oct. 7, Cunningham scored 10 points on 2-for-3 shooting from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.

Although the game against the Hawks was a solid performance for a player who has yet to find a home in the NBA, he would follow that up with an even better outing a few nights later against the Philadelphia 76ers. With several of team’s marquee players on the bench, Cunningham took full advantage of being given extended playing time.

In that contest, he poured in a game-high 31 points on an efficient 8-for-10 shooting and converted 13 of his 16 attempts from the charity stripe in 31 minutes of action. Cunningham also grabbed four rebounds and handed out three assists.

And with five other invites fighting for a roster spot, Cunningham’s effort didn’t go unnoticed by head coach David Blatt, as Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group explains:

"“I thought without question Jared sort of separated himself tonight. He was exceptional. That’s what the opportunities are for, you know. You get a chance, you grab it and he made good use of it.”“He’s a two-way player and he’s an excellent open court player. He battles and he’s athletic and that can get you far in this league. But we still got the rest of camp to go through to see what’s happening. But without question, Jared really showed up today.”"

Of course, two preseason games is not a large enough sample to determine if Cunningham will be able to stick around. However, as of right now, he’s averaging 20.5 points per contest and playing with a great deal of confidence.

And as long as he can continue to play well in each outing, there is a good chance that Cunningham will latch on long-term with the organization that originally drafted him three years ago.

Next: Cleveland Cavaliers: What Austin Daye Can Bring To The Cavs

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