The Pelicans reached out to the NBA to determine if the league would punish Dante Cunningham before they decided to sign him earlier today, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports. As was noted earlier, the NBA is unlikely to discipline Cunningham for the domestic assault charges against Cunningham that were dropped over the summer. “We have commenced an independent review of the matter and the charges that were subsequently dropped against Mr. Cunningham, but at this point we have no basis to conclude that he engaged in conduct that warrants discipline from the NBA,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Cunningham sees the Pelicans as the ideal team to restart his NBA career with, Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com writes. “It’s a great opportunity to get here, sign and be part of this great organization,” Cunningham said. “It’s been a rough couple months, but at this time, it’s definitely behind me. I’ve learned, I’ve grown and I’m a stronger person for it. Being back where I love to be [playing basketball], it’s definitely a weight off of my shoulders. My name is cleared. I’m now just trying to rebrand it and make sure it’s ‘Dante Cunningham’ once again.”
- Kyle Anderson, the Spurs‘ first round pick this season, has a unique opportunity to learn from the storied veterans in San Antonio’s locker room, Andy Vasquez of The Record writes. “I landed in a really good situation,” Anderson said. “Every day I walk into this locker room I’m among Hall of Famers, I’m among real pioneers of the game, guys I’ve watched my whole life. So it’s big time for me. I don’t take any day for granted that I’m in this locker room.”
- One of the reasons New Orleans signed Cunningham is because head coach Monty Williams was an advocate for Cunningham’s character, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes. Williams’ relationship with Cunningham dates back to the 2009/10 season, when Williams was an assistant coach with the Blazers and the forward was playing in Portland, notes Wojnarowski.