Despite his down year, the Cavaliers have received a fair amount of interest in forward De’Andre Hunter on the trade market, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, and are engaged in various discussions about him, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
However, Cleveland is hesitant to make a move involving Hunter, Siegel writes. As he explains, although the Cavs – the only club in the NBA operating above the second tax apron – have considered ways to reduce their team salary, the front office doesn’t want to flip the 28-year-old for less than it gave up to acquire him a year ago (Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks, and two pick swaps).
When Hunter is playing well, he’s the exact kind of three-and-D wing with size that many teams around the NBA would love to add. But he’s knocking down just 30.6% of his three-pointers this season and his injury history has given some teams pause, according to Fischer, who suggests those clubs are apprehensive about the guaranteed $24.9MM salary he’s owed in 2026/27.
The Bucks were one team that expressed interest in Hunter as they sought roster upgrades earlier in the season, Siegel writes, but their offer would have been centered around Kyle Kuzma. Not only does Kuzma not interest the Cavs, per Siegel, but they wouldn’t have been able to acquire him using Hunter, since Kuzma’s apron salary (factoring in his unlikely incentives) is larger than Hunter’s. Second-apron teams aren’t permitted to aggregate two or more players or take back more than 100% of a single player’s outgoing salary.
Here’s more on the Cavs:
- After LeBron James‘ contract with the Lakers expires this summer, could a third go-round with the Cavaliers be in the cards? He hasn’t indicated whether he intends to continue his career or whether he’d seriously consider leaving Los Angeles, but multiple team and league sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN that the Cavs would “gladly” welcome LeBron back if he decides he wants to return to Cleveland. Barring a significant roster overhaul, James would presumably have to be willing to take a massive pay cut in order to rejoin the Cavs, who already have $227MM in guaranteed money on their books for next season.
- After playing a very limited role as a rookie, Jaylon Tyson has enjoyed a breakout second season, earning a spot on the Rising Stars roster this week. While Tyson is pleased about that achievement, he said this week that he has bigger goals he’s working toward, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details (subscription required). “I do want to be an All-Star one day,” Tyson said, adding that he also thinks he deserves consideration for Most Improved Player. “… If we were winning more games right now, I would be in that (MIP) conversation, right? I feel like respectfully and humbly, the numbers speak for itself. You see my leap from last year. … They say second-year players can’t get it, but why not? I think I should be in that conversation. We’re going to continue to win games and I’m going to keep being me, and we’ll see how it happens.”
- Marc J. Spears of Andscape examines Nae’Qwan Tomlin‘s “unheard of and not normal” path to the NBA, detailing how the former Rucker Park phenom who didn’t play high school basketball eventually ended up on a two-way contract with the Cavaliers. Tomlin has been active for 44 NBA regular season games so far this season, six away from his 50-game limit, so Cleveland will have to promote him to its standard roster if it wants to keep using him after the trade deadline.