after leaving the university of illinois, sunderlage played professionally for two seasons in the national basketball association. he was selected in the 1951 nba draft by the philadelphia warriors in the first round. he never ended up playing for them, however, as he was traded for mark workman to the milwaukee hawks on november 19, 1952, just as the 1953–54 nba season began. an additional misfortune for sunderlage was the fact that he was required to serve a year in the military, pushing his start in the nba back a season. he played in 68 games and averaged over 11 points per game for the hawks and was a coaches selection for the 1954 nba all-star game. in september 1954, sunderlage was again traded, this time to the minneapolis lakers. he played in 45 games for the lakers during the 1954–55 nba season but his minutes and scoring were drastically reduced from his previous season and on july 1, 1955 he was released from his contract.