Player Facts
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 225lbs.
Date of Birth: Dec. 2, 1997
College Experience: Virginia (2 years)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 8
Positional Size: 9
Positional Wingspan: 10
Paint Scoring: 7
Midrange Scoring: 7
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 3
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 6
Rebounding: 7
*This page may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase
through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclaimer for more information.
Join the Patreon for Exclusive Player Profiles & Additional Perks!
STRENGTHS
Intro
The Virginia product is a solid two-way basketball player with token combo wing size. Hunter has packed on some modest offensive creation to supplement his outside shooting ability. On defense, he can and does guard all sorts of player types at 6'8".
Nascent Midrange Game
Hunter's offensive analysis should begin with his nascent self-created midrange game. This is one of the dimensions shown in college – a latent skill that took a few years to translate to the NBA.
He's had a few years of growing pains (37.2% on two-point jumpers in his age-24 season) but has finally become firmly above-average here as of 2022-2023. In 2024-2025 at 27 years old, De'Andre shot just under 49% from the 10-16 foot zone.
De'Andre looks to go to work when he finds himself staring down a big man. As well, he can get to this midranger through DHO's and simple off-ball curls into this area. He was in the league's upper half for handoff scoring efficiency in 2021-2022.
Post-Up Dimension
One more wrinkle to the big wing's game is his ability to apply that muscular 225-pound frame on the block. He can attack smalls down there with a more physical than finesse post-game. A reasonable amount of his offensive is sourced from these possessions.
He landed in the 81st percentile posting up while playing as a Hawk in 2024-2025. As a forward who's not the highest usage player in the world, he did very well to make the most of his opportunities.
Second-Side Attacking
The remainder of his offensive value derives largely from second-side attacks and some off-ball cutting. DH can be a strong attacker when he is decisive on catch-and-go chances.
He gets to the basket reasonably well so long as he remains aggressive. Hunter uses his size and explosiveness to get to the basket, then uses those same physical tools to finish there. His 5.6 2021-2022 dribble drives per contest put him in the area of guys like Bojan Bogdanovic, Desmond Bane, and Klay Thompson.
Cutting + Spot-Up 3's
Hunter is a timely cutter with a specific penchant for zipping to the rim as his teammate posts up and attracts help. 2020-2021 had him in the 54th percentile as a cutter then he jumped to the 80th in 2021-2022. He finished on 72.4% of these cuts in that latter campaign.
The former Virgina (and now Cleveland) Cavalier can of course hit some threes for you too. 2021-2022 saw him bang 38.2% of his catch-and-shoot triples. He is enough of a threat here to garner hard closeouts that he'll exploit.
Shooting consistency has finally appeared to have stabilized for DH. He put together a fine statistical season from range in 2024-2025. Hunter banged in 40.7% of his catch-and-shoot threes and shot 40.5% overall from deep that year.
Malleable Man Defense
De'Andre Hunter has a nice defensive toolbox. The athletic traits are all there in ample quantities. He's 6'8", has a huge 7'2" wingspan, is a sturdy 225 lbs., has bounce, is agile, and has nice hip mobility.
Thanks to those traits, he is one of the more versatile wing defenders in the game. Back before Dejounte Murray's arrival in Atlanta, Hunter had to guard the opposing team's best perimeter threat – even when that was a guard. This trial-by-fire situation led to him becoming a legitimately solid option to put on these zippy backcourt players.
In earnest though, he is best suited to check big wings and small-ball bigs. Some of the game's best lie at these positions, so every team needs a guy like Hunter to sop up these pivotal defensive minutes.
Extra Defensive Goods
2021-2022 had him in the upper half of the Association when checking isolations and ball screen actions respectively. While he's good out in space and an impressive screen navigator at his size, he can also put his hard hat on and resist post-ups/in-arc iso's. That same season, he was in the 81st percentile defending the post.
2024-2025 saw him get into the 77th percentile for isolation defense as a Hawk. After the Cavs brought him on board mid-season, he suddenly was placed in an elite defensive team environment with an elite frontcourt backbone in Evan Mobley (2025 DPOY) and Jarrett Allen. Hunter has been able to thrive on both ends given this refined, defined role in Cleveland.
To round out his defensive value, he provides some paint resistance at the wing position. After all, he has the size/length of some modern centers (though he doesn't play there much himself). Year after year, he consistently causes opponents to shoot below their typical average at the cup.
WEAKNESSES
Offensive Mistake-Making
Hunter is actually a less effective point-blank finisher than one may presume given his physical dimensions and athleticism. The big wing has a couple of inexcusable sub-60% seasons at the iron (incl. 2021-2022). He lacks touch and finesse around here, as he has more than enough size and length to be a firmly above-average paint converter.
The larger symptom of his not-fully-refined creation game is the missed passing opportunities. He can usually get into the midrange one-on-one but his focus stays on scoring rather than openly scanning for delivery chances. DH is actually not a great connective tissue passer either.
Weak Defensive Playmaker
On D, Hunter is pretty solid in broad strokes. To pick some nits though, he can and should be better as an events creator with that great tool-set. He has always gotten big minutes but consistently posts sub-1 steals and blocks averages.
This relatively weak defensive playmaking typifies his man-defense versus team-defense imbalance. Hunter is much more impactful in the former area. Improving his off-ball awareness and general movement could help lead to more counting stats for the swingman.
- Sale!
- Books
The Mamba Mentality
- Original price was: $45.50.$35.45Current price is: $35.45.
- Buy Now
- Sale!
- Books
Basketball(and Other Things)
- Original price was: $24.99.$18.25Current price is: $18.25.
- Buy Now
- Sale!
- Books
The Book of Basketball
- Original price was: $29.00.$21.88Current price is: $21.88.
- Buy Now
- Sale!
- Books
Sprawlball
- Original price was: $35.00.$31.34Current price is: $31.34.
- Buy Now
Players Appearing in This Analysis – Check Out Their Profiles
- Bojan BogdanovicOpens in a new tab
- Desmond Bane [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Klay Thompson [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Dejounte Murray [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Evan Mobley [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Jarrett Allen [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
