Indiana offers elite 2024 5-star SF Naasir Cunningham

On3 imageby:Peter Warren09/12/22

thepeterwarren

West Orange (N.J.) Overtime Elite Academy five-star small forward Naasir Cunningham has earned an offer from Indiana.

Cunningham is the No. 4 overall recruit and No. 1 small forward in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

The only recruits ranked ahead of Cunningham in the rankings are Dallas Lake Highlands five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson, Bronx (N.Y.) Cardinal Hayes five-star shooting guard Ian Jackson and Kokomo (Ind.) five-star center Flory Bidunga.

He currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $281k. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

Cunningham previously attended Gladstone (N.J.) Gill St. Bernard’s and played alongside Mackenzie Mgbako, who is a top five-recruit in the 2023 class.

He broke down the decision to play with Overtime Elite with On3’s Joe Tipton during the summer and explained that he chose the option that allows him to still attend college.

“It was difficult because I didn’t know much about OTE, and I already had my mind set on a couple of high schools,” Cunningham told On3. “Then my parents brought it to me and they were like ‘I really think you should consider this and they started explaining it to me. I started thinking about it and I was like ‘wow, that’s really big. That’s huge for me.’ So we did it, and I’m pretty proud of my decision.”