{"id":114472,"date":"2024-12-28T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114472"},"modified":"2024-12-28T08:00:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T13:00:08","slug":"cavs-among-suitors-for-deandre-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/28\/cavs-among-suitors-for-deandre-hunter\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Among Suitors for Hawks Rising Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the February trade deadline begins to loom, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be among the teams likely looking to buy. Though the players available still remain mostly a mystery, NBA analyst Jake Weinbach believes Hawks wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De&#8217;Andre Hunter<\/a> will have heavy interest. The Cavs, Grizzlies, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Kings are currently listed as possible suitors.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">De\u2019Andre Hunter should generate steady interest on the trade market with the Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Kings among the list of viable suitors.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter is averaging a career-best 20.3 points per game while shooting 44% from 3 with the Hawks this season.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jake Weinbach (@JWeinbachNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JWeinbachNBA\/status\/1872730098371383656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Cavs Among Suitors for Hawks Rising Star<\/h2>\n<p>The Cavs are off to a franchise-best 27-4 start. Despite starting so well, they remain underdogs to make a championship run in the spring. Because of that, the Cavs could be involved in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/27\/new-jimmy-butler-report-further-sparks-miami-heat-trade-rumors\/\" target=\"_self\">trade rumors<\/a> that would strengthen their roster ahead of the playoff run.<\/p>\n<h3>Hunter&#8217;s Fit<\/h3>\n<p>Hunter would be a perfect fit for the Cavs. Wing depth is always a need for playoff contenders, and the Cavs remain light on wings as they have not been fully healthy all season. Currently, wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okorois01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaac Okoro<\/a> is on the shelf with a knee injury and will not be back for a few more weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The former Virginia Cavalier is in his sixth season in the NBA, all with the Hawks, and has shown steady improvement. Hunter is having a career season thus far, averaging 20.3 points on a staggering 44% from behind the three-point line. Entering the season, his previous career-high in points per game was 15.6. He has impressed against Cleveland this season as well, scoring 26 and 23 points <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01\/gamelog\/2025\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">respectively<\/a> on 9-16 shooting from three in two meetings this year. Hunter is an ultra-athletic player. At 6-foot-8, 225 lbs., he would comfortably be the most athletic wing on the roster and maintain the size the Cavs have at the position currently.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, while having a stellar year on offense, Hunter has also turned in his best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01.html#all_contract\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensive rating<\/a> since the 2021-22 season. As a team, the Hawks struggle defensively, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?Season=2024-25\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranking<\/a> 17th in defensive rating, they ranked 27th <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?Season=2023-24&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter is under contract until 2027, having signed an extension in Atlanta in 2022. He would cost the Cavs about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/31561\/deandre-hunter\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$23.5 million per season.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>It is not often that a team playing as well as the Cavs would make a major move like acquiring Hunter. However, he would easily be the best wing player on the Cavs and fit into the starting lineup. He would likely cost one of either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/strusma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Strus<\/a> or Okoro for salary reasons, but would be worth the investment.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland would face steady competition from several teams who could offer a better package which makes the deal seem unlikely. But, adding Hunter to the best offense in basketball would be a sight to behold. The Cavs are off the back of notching 149 points against the Denver Nuggets on Friday, a franchise record for points in a non-overtime game. Additionally, the Cavs are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?Season=2024-25&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=OFF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first<\/a> in offensive rating, FG%, and 3PT%.<\/p>\n<p>The deadline is still about two months away but Cleveland&#8217;s quick start has amped up the expectations in Northeast Ohio. If the Cavs go through a lull in the next couple of months expect trade rumors to run rampant. As for now, a deal for anyone, especially the caliber of Hunter is unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the February trade deadline begins to loom, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be among the teams likely looking to buy. Though the players available still remain mostly a mystery, NBA analyst Jake Weinbach believes Hawks wing De&#8217;Andre Hunter will have heavy interest. The Cavs, Grizzlies, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Kings are currently listed as possible suitors. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5174,"featured_media":114526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4,1608,62],"tags":[1875,2842,1478],"class_list":["post-114472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-deandre-hunter","tag-isaac-okoro","tag-max-strus"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114525,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114472\/revisions\/114525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}