Cavs Viewed Raptors As Biggest Threat In De’Andre Hunter Trade Talks With Hawks

While the Cavaliers won the NBA trade deadline pursuit of De’Andre Hunter, it reportedly didn’t come easily. Cleveland apparently had some serious competition.

It came in the form of the Toronto Raptors, who the Cavaliers just happen to visit on Wednesday night in their final game before the NBA All-Star break.

The Raptors also made a serious pursuit of Hunter in trade talks with the Atlanta Hawks, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

“Toronto and Atlanta have discussed Hunter trades going as far back as the 2023 NBA Draft, sources said, when the Hawks were also among the teams most aggressively pursuing Siakam,” Fischer wrote.

“Sources say that the Cavaliers viewed the Raptors as their foremost threat to landing Hunter while also being cognizant that the Pelicans and Hawks were discussing frameworks that could have sent Brandon Ingram to Atlanta and Hunter to New Orleans.”

In other words, it wasn’t just the Raptors that wanted Hunter. Understandably, a lot of teams did. He’s a quality individual and was having a whale of a season with the Hawks, leading NBA bench scoring, bench steals, and nearly every other important category.

Of course, he started his very first game as a member of the Cavaliers, and right away, it was pretty evident what he could offer a 43-10 team (as of Tuesday night). That would be none other than size, athleticism, outside shooting and the ability to defend “one-through-five,” as Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson puts it.

In the end, the Raptors’ loss turned out to be the Cavs’ gain. The Hawks ended up with Caris LeVert and Georges Niang, and interestingly, it was Toronto that ended up with Ingram.

“Atlanta, you see, had been exploring Hunter trade possibilities for some time and seemingly regarded Ingram as an intriguing response to losing him that could have provided some interesting optionality this summer,” Fischer wrote.