at the World University Games in 1965 Named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team, honoring the fifty best players in ACC history (2002) Professional basketball career In 1965, Cunningham joined the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. He played 80 games, primarily as a sixth man, while averaging 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. At the conclusion of the season he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. Cunningham was a member of the powerful 1967 Sixers championship team, which also featured Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson. In Game 2 of the 1967 NBA Finals, Cunningham scored 28 points during a 126-95 win over the San Francisco Warriors. After Chamberlain left the team in 1968, Cunningham became the 76ers' franchise player. He would replace the injured and aging Luke Jackson as the starting power forward of the team, and averaged 24.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounds per game during the 1968–69 season while leading the 76ers to 55 wins. After that season, he earned the first of what would be three straight All-NBA First Team selections. On December 20, 1970, Cunningham scored 31 points and grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds en route to a 134–132 road win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Cunningham signed a three‐year contract on August 5, 1969 to begin play with the American Basketball Association's Carolina Cougars in 1971–72. Contending that the Cougars had reneged on paying the remaining $80,000 of a $125,000 signing bonus due on May 15, 1970, he reversed himself and signed a four‐year, $950,000 contract extension to stay with the 76ers through 1974–75 on July 15, 1970. The Cougars' attempt to file an injunction against him was denied in United States District Court on September 24, 1971. The reversal of that judgment in the United States Court of Appeals months later on April 5, 1972, meant that Cunningham was obligated to honor his Cougars contract until its expiration in October 1974. He announced on June 15, 1972, that he was going to play with the Cougars beginning with the upcoming season at press conferences in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina which occurred almost simultaneous to the Sixers' introduction of Roy Rubin as its new head coach. In his first ABA season, Cunningham averaged 24.1 points per game, 12.0 rebounds per game, and led the league in total steals. He led the Cougars to