The Cleveland Cavs added De’Andre Hunter as a final piece for their championship pursuit, which came to a halt in their second-round playoff series loss to the Indiana Pacers. Hunter, who was traded by the Atlanta Hawks mid-season, went from playing for a team that missed the postseason to a squad with the best record in the Eastern Conference.
With championship aspirations, injuries to the Cavs’ All-Star core players diminished their chances of beating the Pacers in a best-of-7 series. However, for Hunter, it was a specific mindset that prevented him from getting over the hump, he revealed, per ESPN’s Jamal Collier.
“It was more mental than anything,” Hunter told ESPN. “Game 1, that’s the game we’re supposed to win. We win that game and the series is completely different. We just kind of were mentally weak, at times, and they were mentally stronger.”
The underdog Pacers would move on to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they eliminated the New York Knicks, and took the champion Oklahoma City Thunder to a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
“I don’t think it was anything physical. I don’t think it was any skill gap,” Hunter continued. “I literally just think it was all mental.”
After a 15-0 start to the 2024-25 campaign, the Cavs followed up their historic regular season with a 4-3 record this season after beating Hunter’s former team — the Atlanta Hawks — 117-109 on Sunday.
Why Cavs’ De’Andre Hunter was hit with ‘Kawhi’ label
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
After an impressive 17-point performance on 7-of-9 shooting in a 118-117 preseason loss to the Bulls, Cavs veteran De’Andre Hunter earned a ‘Kawhi’ label from a teammate. It was Larry Nance Jr., who returned to the Cavs as a free agent during the summer.
Nance Jr. talked about Hunter’s offense after the preseason loss in October, per News 5’s Camryn Justice.
“That looked like Kawhi Leonard to me,” Larry Nance Jr. said about combo forward after the game, claiming that he had not seen Hunter miss a shot since “a few months ago.”
“I tried to shake his hand in the second half to try to get some of that good juju, but it didn’t work,” he added. “Dre is a bucket; he has looked awesome. I am excited for a huge year from him.”
Hunter is averaging 18.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.0 assists through five games for the Cavs this season.
