Texas Basketball: 3 most painful Shaka Smart recruiting misses

SGA and Smith are two prospects that Smart and the Longhorns missed out on that basketball fans can look back upon with proven results at the college and/or pro levels. SGA is a stud for the Thunder at the moment, and he had a great rookie campaign last season with the Clippers. Smith is waiting for his true shot with the Sixers.

However, the nation’s top ranked 2020 high school prospect obviously has yet to play a single game at the college level. The 6-foot-6 and 215 pound Montverde Academy sensational point guard Cade Cunningham wound up choosing to take his talents to join head coach Mike Boynton and the Oklahoma State Cowboys over schools like Texas and Kentucky.

Other key schools that sent a scholarship offer to Cunningham included the North Carolina Tar Heels, Florida Gators, Washington Huskies, Duke Blue Devils, Kansas Jayhawks, Virginia Cavaliers, Texas A&M Aggies, and LSU Tigers.

Texas found itself amid the top 10 finalist schools for Cunningham, and it looked like Smart would be able to take a real run at the Arlington, TX, native. But Oklahoma State and Kentucky started to emerge as the two favorites late in his recruitment before he would commit to and sign with the Pokes in November 2019.

There’s a very good chance that Cunningham will be the first overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and the best player in the Big 12 next season. This hurts, much like losing Smith did, because Texas will face Cunningham and Oklahoma State at least twice next season.