As expected, Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham heard his name called with the #1 overall pick on the evening of Thursday, July 29, 2021. Cunningham was favored -5000 at the Virgin Games 2021 to be chosen first in the NBA Draft.

It’s been a long journey for Cunningham who went from receiving just one offer as a freshman in high school to the best player in high school basketball and then the nearly consensus number one pick of his NBA Draft class selected by the Detroit Pistons.

The 6-foot-8 Cunningham is a poised, confident point guard who averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.6 steals during his one season with the Oklahoma State Sooners.  Leading up the draft, Cunningham, Filipino-American Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, and Jalen Suggs were all discussed as possible #1 picks before Cade rose to the top in the last couple weeks.

Like most of America the morning after the draft, you’re probably wondering who Cade Cunningham is, if he’s as complete a prospect as all the analysts are saying, and if you watched the draft, you may have noticed that Cunningham’s parents may be of two different races. We noticed and were curious whether Cunningham was mixed race or biracial, so we did some digging.

Who are Cade Cunningham’s parents?

The 19-year old NBA pick got some of athleticism from his dad Keith was one of the top quarterback high school prospects in the United States and played for Texas Tech. That’s when Keith met his wife, Cade’s mother, Carrie. While both Carrie and Keith were important in Cade’s development, Cunningham has gone out of his way to praise his mother.

“She’s my rock,” Cade talked to The Oklahoman about his mother. “Her and my dad, they’re both just somebody I know I can lean on. If anything goes wrong, I know they’ll love me regardless, I know they’ll support me regardless. Her and my dad, they’re both just somebody I know I can lean on. If anything goes wrong, I know they’ll love me regardless, I know they’ll support me regardless.”

Is Cade Cunningham mixed-race?

We did some research and couldn’t find direct information regarding his parent’s backgrounds. There are several articles on the Internet  that have mentioned Cade’s dad is Black and his mother is white, but they don’t cite sources or link off to where that information originates from.

However by all appearances, it does seem to look as if that may be true. If so, then Cade Cunningham is biracial or multi-racial and since he was born in Arlington, Texas, United States, he has an American nationality.