Agent: Dante Cunningham in a 'horrible, unfair situation'

At 27 years old, with five years experience and coming off a pair of productive seasons in an appreciable role, Dante Cunningham was supposed to find a market for his services as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

In April, though, Cunningham was arrested for allegedly sending text messages to an ex-girlfriend that police said "rose to a terroristic level." He was eventually charged with domestic assault, charges that were dropped in August due to a lack of evidence. It was later determined that the accusations were false.

Despite the conclusion that Cunningham was falsely accused, he remains out of work. His agent, Joel Bell, told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe this week that teams are worried about the potential backlash of signing him, given the current climate surrounding domestic abuse in professional sports:

Teams were like, ‘We don’t need the fuss,’” Bell said. “They said, ‘We don’t want to see protesters. It’s a hot-button issue in the country right now.’ I provided all the documents to the teams, police reports, and he’s innocent. There’s no question he was innocent.
...
This is a really horrible, unfair situation and it’s all due to the political climate in the country. He got a horrible hand. He didn’t do anything wrong and he’s had his profession taken away from him. He’s had big offers taken away from him.

Another issue for Cunningham is that there are just four open roster spots across the entire league right now. Sacramento, Chicago, Memphis and Utah all have a free spot but are opting to keep it open, either for roster flexibility or to save a few dollars.

It's an unfortunate spot for Cunningham, who his agent alleges has had evidence proving his innocence since way back in June.

"He's an NBA rotation player," Bell said. "He's a valuable NBA player."

In 366 career games, the 6-foot-8 Cunningham has averaged 6.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 19.4 minutes, shooting 47.5 percent from the floor.