Cade Cunningham to visit Kentucky for Big Blue Madness

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Cade Cunningham, the 6-foot-7 point guard from Texas and Montverde (FL) Academy, will now take his official visit to Kentucky this weekend for Big Blue Madness instead of attending the USA Basketball minicamp in Colorado.

The news was first reported by Rivals.com.

Cade Cunningham (2020) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ will take his official visit to Kentucky this weekend for Big Blue Madness, per reports. pic.twitter.com/DiSBONoI5Q

— BBNation ? (@BBNation15) October 6, 2019

Cunningham is a projected top-2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and said he wants to be a “max contract guy.”

“Coach Cal (John Calipari), his main thing is, I have just been very transparent with all of the coaches recruiting me and I don’t want to just make it to the league but rather, I want to be an all-star and a max contract guy,” Cunningham told Rivals.

“I feel if you just shoot to make it in the league, that is how you sell yourself short, so just telling him that I want to be a max contract guy, that is a good goal to set. He has had so many of those guys and guys like me and all others at other positions that have been No. 1 picks, so that has been his main pitch to me.”

Kentucky already has a four-man recruiting class and Cunningham said he’s tight with several of those players.

“Terrence Clarke and Brandon Boston are both my guys, those are guys that I know that I would be able to fit with, even if no one else thinks so,” he told Rivals. “I talk to them a lot.

“Lance Ware is one of my really good friends, and even Cam Fletcher I am really good with, so I am really cool with all of those guys and talking to De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese [Maxey] and guys like that, they have all said that it is a place that I can really develop and work on my game. It is also on this humongous stage, so he has had a really good pitch so far. So, I really want to go and see it.”

Kentucky also remains in the mix for Class of 2021 point guard Devin Askew, who visited this past weekend and may end up reclassifying to 2020.

The No. 2 player in 2020, Cunningham visited Oklahoma State (Sept. 7), North Carolina (Sept. 27) and Florida (Oct. 4) and goes to Washington (Oct. 20). His older brother, Cannen Cunningham, is on staff at Oklahoma State, but Cade has said he remains “wide open” in his recruitment.

He could pull the trigger as soon as next month.

“I do know that I’ll be in Dallas for the Thanksgiving Hoopfest on Nov. 29 and that’s where I’m from so it would be perfect if I’m ready and if I know where I want to go,” he wrote on his USA Today blog. “It would mean a lot to commit in front of the hometown crowd.

“We’ll see if the timing works out. I’m not rushing things.”

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