De’Andre Hunter has thrived in his new threads and is coming off the best performance of his young Cavaliers career, a 32-point performance against the Blazers, which begs the question: Did the Hawks make a mistake trading Hunter?
Hunter continues to reward the Cavs’ front office, consistently playing winning basketball for Cleveland. In addition to his points, Hunter also had seven rebounds and a steal while shooting 8-for-15 from the field, 5-for-9 from behind the arc and 11-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Since the Hawks traded him, Hunter is averaging 16.0 points on a 52.0 field goal percentage with the Cavs. He is also knocking down his 3-pointers at an incredibly high clip, making them on a 59.5 percent success rate.
The Hawks moved Hunter, in part, because of his contract, one that is set to pay him about $23 million next season and $24 million over the next two seasons. If he’s playing like he currently is for the Cavaliers, the Hawks will certainly have seller’s remorse; however, Landry Fields and Kyle Korver didn’t trade De’Andre Hunter because they believe he can’t consistently play at this level.
The Hawks traded De’Andre Hunter because of his struggles to stay on the court. He has averaged about 52 games per season since entering the league, and while he’s remained healthy this year, history tells us that he will eventually be sidelined.
The Hawks wanted to get out from underneath the contract. At this point, they were wrong to do so, but the Cavaliers could soon learn what the Hawks experienced with Hunter’s injury history.
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Photographer: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
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