The Atlanta Hawks are trading forward De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks and two swaps, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Hunter, 27, is having a career year in his sixth season in the NBA, averaging highs in points (19), 3-point attempts (6.7) and 3-point percentage (39.3%). He’s had a larger role in Atlanta’s offense and responded well to the extra scoring responsibility, fulfilling some of the promise he had as a top-five pick in the 2019 draft.
Hunter joins a Cavaliers team that sits atop the Eastern Conference and was looking to add more size on the wing. LeVert, 30, was having a strong season in Cleveland — averaging 10.2 points and shooting 40.5% from 3 off the bench — but at 6-foot-6 was giving up some size as a small forward.
Hunter has been one of the best scorers off the bench in the NBA this year. His 18 20-point games off the bench are the most in the NBA, and he leads the league with 18.9 points off the bench this year.
Hunter is in the second year of a four-year, $90 million extension he signed with the Hawks in 2023. He isn’t set to hit unrestricted free agency until the summer of 2027. Meanwhile, LeVert is in the final year of his deal.
With Hunter, the Cavs add another catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter to space the floor with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. The Cavs already shoot 40.1% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, the best mark in the NBA per Second Spectrum, and Hunter’s 2.1 catch-and-shoot 3’s per game ranks 13th in the NBA. In two losses to the Boston Celtics this year, the Cavs struggled to capitalize on those opportunities, going 4-for-12 and 4-for-19 in losses on Nov.19 and Feb.4, respectively, their fewest makes in a game this season.
Atlanta has struggled recently after star forward Jalen Johnson went out with an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. The Hawks have dropped nine of their past 10 games and have started to begin rebuilding their roster.
LeVert spent four seasons with the Cavs after being acquired in a trade from the Brooklyn Nets and carved out a role as Cleveland’s sixth man, averaging 12.5 points, 4.3 assists on 43% shooting in 199 games, most of which came as a reserve. Niang was in his second season with the Cavs and had appeared in all 51 games for Cleveland this season.
Atlanta made another couple of moves before the Thursday deadline, sending Bogdan Bogdanovic and three second-round picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for guards Terance Mann and Bones Hyland, sources told Charania. They also are sending veteran center Cody Zeller and Houston’s 2028-second round pick to the Rockets, sources said.
Mann signed a three-year, $47 million extension with the Clippers in September. He was in his sixth season with the Clippers, where he was a second-round pick by the team in the 2019 NBA draft out of Florida State.
Mann, 28, started the first 11 games of the season for L.A. but has come off the bench since then. Mann started in a career-high 71 games last season. His best year was during the 2021-22 campaign, when he averaged a career-best 10.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Zeller, 32, has two years left on his deal after this season.
