Sean Kingsley Cunningham (born December 20, 1986) is an American-Dutch professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. Cunningham usually plays the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

position. He is a former member of the

Dutch national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Eur ...

Career

Cunningham started his professional career with Tindastóll in 2010, where he averaged 15.5 points and 4.9 assists in 17 Úrvalsdeild karla games. In 2011, he signed with

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats. ...

of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). In the 2012–13 season, he won his first DBL championship after beating

Aris Leeuwarden Aris Leeuwarden is a Dutch professional basketball club based in Leeuwarden. The club competes in the BNXT League, and has competed at the highest national level since 2004. Aris plays its home games at the Kalverdijkje. Its most notable successes ...

4–0 in the finals. In 2014, Cunningham transferred to DBL side

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and ...

, after winning one DBL championship and one Dutch Cup title with Leiden. In 2016, he won his first DBL title with Donar. In the 2017–18 season, Cunningham was named the

DBL Defensive Player of the Year The Dutch Basketball League Best Defender of the Year is an award that is yearly given to the best defensive player in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_ ...

National team career

Although born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Cunningham has been a Dutch citizen since birth. In 2013, two of Netherlands' national team wins in the

EuroBasket 2015 qualification This article describes the qualification procedure for EuroBasket 2015. Qualification format In the first qualifying round, 13 teams which didn't qualify for EuroBasket 2013 have been divided into four groups. The winners of each group advance ...

where voided as

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

counted him and

Mohamed Kherrazi Mohamed Kherrazi (born 29 June 1990) is a Dutch-Moroccan professional basketball player who plays for Leuven Bears of the BNXT League. He is also a member of the Dutch national basketball team. He is a record three-time DBL Defensive Player of the ...

as naturalized players. Both players appeared in both the games and under FIBA rules only one naturalized player could be on the roster for any given game.

Personal life

Cunningham was born and raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to a Dutch mother and American father, David Cunningham. His father died in November 2017, at the age of 82. After

's third national championship in a row in May 2018, Cunningham dedicated the victory to his father.

References

External links

Sean Cunningham on basketballeague.nl

UC Riverside bioIcelandic statistics
at kki.is {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Sean 1986 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Iceland American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American men's basketball players B.S. Leiden players Basketball players from Los Angeles Donar (basketball club) players Dutch Basketball League players Dutch men's basketball players Point guards Ungmennafélagið Tindastóll men's basketball players UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball players Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players