De’Andre Hunter on facing Hawks: ‘They can’t stop me…they know that’

Friday’s NBA Cup bout between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks seems like anything but just another regular-season game for Cavaliers forward De’Andre Hunter. Hunter will play in Atlanta for the first time since he was traded from the Hawks to the Cavaliers leading up to last season’s trade deadline.

Ahead of Hunter facing off against his old team and plenty of his former teammates, he said that the Hawks “know” they can’t stop him.

Cleveland gave up quite a bit to add Hunter to the fold in the 2024-25 campaign. It dealt wing Caris LeVert, forward Georges Niang, three second-round picks and a pair of pick swaps to the Hawks. But it makes sense that the Cavaliers had to fork over a pretty penny, as Hunter was a real contender for the Sixth Man of the Year award when he got moved to Cleveland.

After all, in his swan song as a Hawk, he averaged 19.0 points per game across 37 games played and only four starts. He knocked down his 3s at an impressive rate of 39.3 percent in that span as well. He then played an important role across the rest of the season with Cleveland.

Fast forward to current day, and Hunter has been a Cavalier for a little while now. His first full season with the team has had some ups and downs, but there is no doubt that he has become a crucial piece for this Cavs squad.

Hunter is averaging 18.1 points per game this season on 45.3 percent shooting from the field and 33.0 percent shooting from deep, and he’s not that far removed a 25-point showing against a vaunted Houston Rockets defense on Nov. 19. In that contest, he converted all but three of his eight 3-pointers.

Considering how efficient and effective of a scorer Hunter has been as of late, maybe he’s in for a huge game against his old team. If he goes off for 25-plus points, then it will be hard to argue with his opinion that the Hawks can’t stop him. A gaudy scoring performance from him would also likely go a long way toward the Cavaliers winning their 13th game of the season.