The Detroit Pistons star opens up about becoming a father, navigating family loss, distance from home, and more in Boardroom’s Cover Story.
Cade Cunningham’s path to NBA stardom came with a life-changing twist long before draft night — one that forced him to grow up faster than most of his peers. He finally convinced his parents to let him leave home as a teenager to pursue basketball greatness, but the transition was anything but smooth.
“I’ve never said this on any interview, but my first month I moved away from all my family, I go through the first death ever. I’d never had anybody in my family, nobody around me die. That happened two more times,” Cunningham told Kevin Durant in Boardroom’s November Cover Story.
As life goes sometimes, grief can hit in waves. Cade experienced multiple losses close to him in a short span, all while he was trying to adjust to a new environment, new expectations, and the pressure of being a top prospect. And just when it felt overwhelming, life handed him something even bigger.
“Two weeks after all that, I find out my ex-girlfriend’s pregnant. I’m having my daughter,” Cunningham said. “And I’m away from my parents, away from everybody. I was stuck.”
The distance from home made everything heavier, but his family — especially his parents — refused to let him feel alone: “My parents, I’m so thankful for them. They’ve been such a support system for me with my daughter.”
Despite the support, Cade wasn’t sure what to expect with his hoop aspirations moving forward, even telling KD he thought “hoop is done for me” at the time. But instead of ending his dream, becoming a dad reshaped it, and reshaped how others saw him. “You got drafted and went through all of that in your junior, senior year. I would’ve never known. You walk around like a grown-up, and that’s why we respect you,” Durant said.
“That makes you grow up,” Cunningham replied.
Be sure to catch the full conversation between Cunningham and Durant here.
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