Philly native De’Andre Hunter relishing ‘seamless’ transition to Cavaliers: ‘They instill confidence in me’

PHOENIX — De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome hopped on FaceTime the afternoon of Feb. 6, their trade-deadline waiting game finally unfolding into a college dream come true.

They used to scour the 2019 NBA draft order as Virginia teammates, looking for teams with an early and late first-round pick and pondering if there was any possibility they could land in the same spot. Nearly six years later, it finally happened.

After a flurry of big-name moves in the days leading up to the trade deadline, Hunter was arguably the most prominent player dealt in those waning hours, when the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers, now 57-14, believed Hunter’s size and versatility made the Philly native and Friends’ Central School graduate the final player they needed to make a championship run.

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Yet even coach Kenny Atkinson has been “thrilled” with how Hunter has instantly become an impactful player for his new team.

“It’s as quickly as I’ve seen anybody acclimate,” Atkinson said Friday, before the Cavaliers lost at the Phoenix Suns, 123-112. “… I’d say seamless, in terms of adapting both offensively and defensively.”

The 27-year-old Hunter entered Monday averaging 14.2 points on an eye-popping 47.7% shooting from three-point range and 50.3% overall in 18 games with Cleveland — a continuation of the career-best numbers he had already put up to begin his sixth season with the Hawks. He has garnered buzz that, even with such a limited sample size with the Cavaliers, Hunter deserves consideration for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.

That is, if that honor does not go to Jerome, who has become the teammate Hunter typically enters alongside and is having his own breakout season. Jerome, naturally, was tasked with helping Hunter through his early transition, offering in-the-moment tips on where to be while running plays. But the overarching message was clear: Just be yourself.

“That’s why they traded for me, because of the player I am,” Hunter said at his locker late Friday. “So I just wasn’t trying to change how I played or approach the game. … Do what the coaches wanted, obviously, but also do the things I know I’m good at.”

Hunter prides himself on not being a ball-dominant player, thriving in catch-and-shoot opportunities for the NBA’s most efficient offense entering Monday. On a 17-point Friday night in Phoenix, Hunter had a knack for hitting an open look shortly after entering the game. He finished 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 6-for-8 from the floor overall. During one second-half sequence, he grabbed the rebound and took it all the way to the opposite end for a finish at the rim. Then in Sunday’s get-right blowout win over the tanking Utah Jazz, Hunter totaled 15 points and six rebounds.

“He doesn’t really have any games where he gives you nothing,” Jerome said. “Over the course of 82, everyone’s going to have some [bad] games. But even his bad games, he still defends. He still pushes the ball. He’s still a threat.

“I told him the other day, I was joking, ‘Man, you really don’t miss much.’ [He said], ‘Yeah, duh.’ The consistency, he’s raised that to another level [since college].”

Hunter also believes he can be even more aggressive for a Cavaliers defense anchored by elite rim protectors Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Hunter is now more comfortable taking risks that could result in fouls, which would have been more detrimental while playing starting minutes. Atkinson added that Hunter’s presence allows the Cavaliers to switch more, a “playoff-worthy thing” the coach said he will deliberately stick with for stretches during the regular season. And the Cavaliers will likely need Hunter’s 6-foot-8 frame while matching up against dynamic wing scorers such as the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and, if they reach the Finals, MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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Perhaps the only downside of this trade for Hunter? Because of quirky scheduling on both sides of the deal, Hunter will not get a Philly trip during the 2024-25 season.

The Cavaliers had already played both games at the Wells Fargo Center by mid-January. The Hawks’ only visit is on April 11. Still, Hunter’s face lit up when asked about how family and friends back home reacted to his joining a contender.

“I could lose every game and they’d still be excited,” he said. “… Obviously, they’re happy for me now. But they were happy for me in ATL, and they’ll be happy for me wherever I go, honestly.”

Cleveland is hitting a late-season slump, losing four of its last five games. That is not entirely uncommon for teams that have rolled through the regular season and are waiting for the playoffs to begin. The Cavaliers also ran into a vintage 42-point performance on Friday from Kevin Durant, the player Hunter mostly guarded in his minutes. Durant scored over Hunter’s outstretched arm multiple times — including a “What can you do?” one-footed fadeaway in the lane in the third quarter.

But Hunter relishes the attention and pressure that come with holding the East’s best record, compared with typically hovering in the Play-In Tournament range while with the Hawks. His college dream with Jerome finally became a reality, nearly six years later. And Hunter feels the belief from the Cavaliers that he was the final player they needed to make their championship push.

“They brought me here to do everything,” Hunter said. “… I just try to remain confident in myself. The team and the coaches, they instill confidence in me, as well. So I just try to feed off of that, and the game’s pretty easy after that.”