UVA Basketball alum De’Andre Hunter made his debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team with the Eastern Conference’s best record, on Monday, scoring 12 points in 23 minutes in a 128-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The trade reunites Hunter with 2019 UVA national-champ teammate Ty Jerome, who had 13 points and four assists in 24 minutes in the win.
Cleveland (43-10) acquired Hunter (18.8 ppg, 46.1% FG, 39.8% 3FG) at the trade deadline from Atlanta, which had drafted Hunter with the fourth pick in 2019.
Hunter was having his best season as a pro, primarily coming off the bench – he and Jerome (11.4 ppg, 3.4 assists/g, 51.6% FG, 42.7% 3FG) are two of the top contenders for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
His offensive punch will add to an already punchy rotation featuring Donovan Mitchell (24.0 ppg), Darius Garland (21.8 ppg) and Evan Mobley (18.7 ppg), but Cleveland’s front office wanted him also because of what he can do on the defensive end.
“We’re good, we’re not great,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said after the win over Minnesota on Monday. “De’Andre was a part of that thought process. Can he help us, size, physicality, positional size, switchable, all the little clichés that are true? Can he push us to the next level?”
For Hunter, who signed a four-year, $95 million extension with the Hawks in 2022, Cleveland is next-level after a run of first-round playoff exits with the Hawks since their surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.
Atlanta, at the moment, is 26-28 and in eighth in the East, five games ahead of the cutline for a Play-In bid, but clearly trending in the rebuild direction, again.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen, honestly. I didn’t think they needed any help,” said Hunter, who is playing for a legit contender for the first time in his NBA career.
He knows his first job is to fit in.
“I’m not coming here trying to change anything. I’m just trying to add my skill set to what they already have,” Hunter said.
“They had a need they felt needed to be addressed. I feel like, as someone who prides himself on defense and kind of going out there and to be a two-way player as best I can. So, I think that could really help this team, especially at the small forward. But like I said, they were doing good without me,” Hunter said.
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