De’Andre Hunter’s debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers was a success. Hunter, who was acquired by the Cavs from the Atlanta Hawks via a trade before the deadline was among the notable contributors in Cleveland’s 128-107 win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The former Virginia Cavaliers star racked up 12 points on 3-for-7 shooting from the floor with a rebound and a steal in 23 minutes of action versus the Timberwolves.
Although his numbers in that contest aren’t exactly stellar, Hunter still put up a solid performance that should leave Cleveland fans expecting more from him going forward.
“What’s up Cavs fans. Dre, here. It was an amazing first game, amazing environment. Happy we got the W for y’all. We on to the next one,” Hunter said in a video message for Cavaliers supporters after the win over the Timberwolves (h/t Cavaliers’ official X account).
In exchange for Hunter, the Hawks got Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three future second-round picks and a couple of future pick swaps.
Hunter’s addition to the Cavs received plenty of positive reactions in favor of Cleveland. With Hunter, the Cavaliers have someone who can do damage on both ends of the floor as a three-and-D guy. In his debut for the Cavs, he helped Cleveland limit the Timberwolves to just 36-for-90 shooting from the field for just a 40 percent success rate and 12-for-39 shooting from behind the arc for only 30.8 percent conversion. Meanwhile, all three of Hunter’s field goals in that contest came from behind the arc while missing just one 3-point attempt.
It is also worth noting that Hunter’s arrival in Cleveland means that he’s now reunited with his former college teammate, Ty Jerome. The two won an NCAA title in 2019. This time around, Hunter and Jerome appear to be in a great position to win another championship together as part of a different Cavaliers squad.
So far in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, Hunter, who was a first-round pick (fourth overall) by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2019 NBA draft, is averaging 18.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He is also shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from 3-point distance.
