One-Hit Wonders - Will Cunningham

As we have discussed many times on RaptorsHQ, the Raptors have been plagued for years by their inability to man the center position with a quality player (and yes, that includes Hakeem). Back in 1999, the Raps looked to the former Temple Owls big man, Will Cunningham, who went undrafted in 1996. Standing 6'11" and weighing 250 pounds, the Raps were hoping to have a good backup big man to accompany the front court featuring Kevin Willis, AD, Yogi Stewart, John Thomas and others. The experiment, however, was short lived.

Along with former One-Hit Wonder Mark Baker, Canadian National Team member Rowan Barrett, Negele Knight and Jermaine Walker, Will was invited to Raptors camp. A formidable bunch of training camp invitees indeed. Invited January 21, Big Will was waived February 17. In his Raptors stint (how many games are there in a stint?) Cunningham played one game, less than one minute, and posted zeros across the board. Unfortunately, this is better than some other players the Raps have at one time or another used at the 5.

Cunningham, since his days in Temple and Raptor land, has continued to play pro ball. Cunningham made NBA stops in New Jersey, Utah, Philly, Phoenix, Indiana (under the eye of Abdul-Jabbar), and is also a member of "Team NBA Canada" having also played for the Vancouver Grizzlies! Unable to stick with an NBA team for any period of time, Cunningham has also played in the USBL, the CBA, internationally and, in 2000, with the Globetrotters. In 2000-01, Will played for the Trenton Shooting Stars of the International Basketball League, in 2002 he played for Team Nike, matching up against many of the NCAA's best in exhibition games and in 2003 he joined the NDBL's North Charleston Lowgators. Will obviously has not experienced "job security" and has never settled into a league, let alone a team. Since 2003, Will has apparently disappeared from the basketball scene and may have decided that traveling salesmen have less travel.