Just before the NBA trade deadline in February, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Georges Niang, Caris LeVert, three second-round picks and two pick swaps to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for De’Andre Hunter.
It’s worth noting that Niang and LeVert were both major contributors off the pine for the Cavaliers this season before they were shipped off to Atlanta. LeVert averaged 10.2 points per game while shooting 40.5 percent from deep with Cleveland. Niang shot 40.0 percent from 3-point range on 4.4 attempts per contest.
Still, Niang — who has been a productive player for the Hawks since the trade — claimed recently that Cleveland’s decision to deal him and LeVert for Hunter made quite a bit of sense.
“It takes anybody by surprise until it happens, right?” Niang told The Stein Line. “You’re like, ‘Nah, that’s not gonna be me.’ And then when it happens, after it I’m like, ‘It kinda makes sense.’ The money, shortening the rotation to kind of have one guy replace two, it kinda all made sense. But it took some time to digest it. I think All-Star break was perfect for that.”
Niang might no longer be playing for a title contender now that he’s a member of the Hawks, but he could still end up participating in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. At this juncture, Atlanta holds the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and boasts a record of 36-41 on the campaign.
The Hawks will have to earn a playoff spot in the play-in tournament, but if Atlanta can do just that, it’s quite possible that Niang will face off against a Cavaliers team that traded him not long ago in the first round of the playoffs.
After all, in all likelihood, Cleveland will head into the playoffs as the top seed in the East. The Cavaliers have a five-game lead over the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics with as many games left in their 82-game schedule.
Cleveland already has a whopping 62 wins in the 2024-25 campaign and can add to that total when it takes on the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night. While Sacramento owns a record of just 3-7 over its past 10 games, it picked up a win over the Charlotte Hornets in its most recent game played on April 4.
Conversely, the Hawks will try to snap their losing streak at three games with a victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday. Fortunately for Atlanta, Utah has struggled mightily to win games all season, as its record of 16-62 is the worst in the league right now.
