LAS VEGAS — Naas Cunningham told The Field of 68 he plans to enter the transfer portal after one season at UNLV in which he never secured a steady role.
Cunningham, a 6-foot-7 wing from West Orange, New Jersey, appeared in 21 games during the 2025-26 season and averaged 5.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 13.3 minutes. He shot 33.7% from the field and 23.4% from 3-point range.
Cunningham’s best early game was a 25-point, three-assist performance against Chattanooga. He made 8 of 14 shots, including three from 3-point range, showing the scoring ability that had made him a prominent recruit.
He later scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting in 25 minutes at Reno and nine on 3-for-4 shooting against New Mexico. Those games gave UNLV productive stretches, but they did not lead to a regular place in Josh Pastner’s rotation.
As UNLV narrowed its rotation late in the year, Cunningham’s opportunities dwindled. Some appearances lasted only a few minutes; on other nights he did not play.
He played three scoreless minutes in the NIT loss at Tulsa.
Cunningham was a nationally ranked prospect in the 2024 class before originally signing with Alabama and then transferring to UNLV. His size, athleticism and scoring ability still give another program something to develop.
With multiple years of eligibility left, he has time to work toward a steadier role. A new program will have to judge the individual scoring games alongside the 33.7% season shooting, then determine where it can use him consistently.
Cunningham’s history makes the unsettled role more striking. He spent 2024-25 at Alabama as a redshirt, so his UNLV season was his first chance to establish a place in a college rotation. He arrived with the attention of a highly ranked prospect, but without a previous season of college games to show how he would handle that assignment.
Recruiting rankings differed by service. 247Sports ranked him No. 43 nationally in the 2024 class, On3 placed him No. 50 and ESPN had him No. 62. An earlier ESPN evaluation had placed him first in the class in 2022.
Before college, he averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists with Rolling Loud in Overtime Elite. He also played for the NY Renaissance on the Nike EYBL circuit and was a finalist for the 2021 USA under-16 national team.
The Chattanooga performance gave those projections a college result. Cunningham led five Rebels in double figures as UNLV won 101-69 for Pastner’s first victory at the school. Hamilton scored 19, Gibbs-Lawhorn and Fleming had 13 each, and Bannarbie added 10. UNLV won the rebounding battle 42-20 and committed eight turnovers, creating a game in which individual scoring worked alongside ball movement and second chances.
Cunningham supplied 25 points on 14 shots that night. Across the whole season, he scored 104 points. That means nearly a quarter of his season’s scoring came in the second game.
When UNLV announced his signing April 25, 2025, Pastner emphasized Cunningham’s length, athleticism, rebounding and defense. He projected a player who could guard all positions.
For UNLV, replacing the minutes also offers a chance to choose a more specific job. If Jones is near the rim, a wing who can draw his defender out of the lane makes a driving guard’s read easier. If that wing cannot shoot consistently, the staff needs another way to involve him through cuts, screens or passes instead of letting his defender wait beside the basket.
His shot distribution offers a narrower development target than the overall field-goal percentage alone. Cunningham made 11 of 47 threes and 21 of 48 attempts inside the arc. Almost half his shots came from outside, where the misses were more frequent. He was considerably better at the foul line, making 29 of 36 attempts. His touch at the line gives his next coach a reason to keep working on the jumper.
Jones is the only confirmed returner at this point. The other announcements will determine whether Pastner is replacing a reserve wing around an established backcourt or building most of the offense again. Cunningham’s departure is one part of that work, with his next destination still unresolved and UNLV’s wing recruiting still unfinished.
His announcement precedes the regular men’s notification window, which opens April 7 this spring.
