Why Alabama basketball is redshirting Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham

As Monday's 110-54 win over UNC Asheville showed, Alabama basketball has plenty of talent. So much so that some of them will not be taking the floor in the 2024-25 season.

Before the game, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats announced on the game broadcast that Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham would be redshirting this season. Afterward, he said the choice for Mallette was due to a lingering injury.

“Houston came to us with some knee issues and didn’t practice all summer,” Oats said of the Pepperdine senior transfer. “He’s an incredible kid, I’m super happy he’s in our program. When you talk about children with strong character, he is at the top of the list. But we wanted to do right by him and give him a full offseason in our program. We play so much different than what he played at Pepperdine.

“And he's trying to become a pro, and without the offseason, I think that put him behind the 8-ball game this year, so we had a long discussion with him and his dad and decided what was best would be if he did that We're really learning how we want to play, we've had a full year and a half with us now and we're starting his year with us next year. He’s going to make us great in practice, he’s going to make us great on the bench, he’s going to make us great just because we’re in the program.”

Mallette, a 6-foot-2 guard, will play a full season in 2025-26. Cunningham is a 6-foot-7 winger who joined the Crimson Tide as a freshman this year.

His redshirt was selected for developmental purposes.

“He needs to get more physical,” Oats said of Cunningham. “He needs to put on some weight. With our strength, I wasn’t sure how many minutes he would play in some of these games.”

Alabama returns to action against Arkansas State on Friday at Coleman Coliseum.