Portland Trail Blazers small forward target – De’Andre Hunter
De’Andre Hunter of the Atlanta Hawks is a six-foot-seven small forward who is 22-years-old. He played two years at Virginia before being drafted by the Hawks in 2019 with the 4th pick.
Hunter had a strong rookie year, averaging 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds in 62 games.
Hunter is a decent three-point shooter, shooting 35 percent from three in his rookie year and 41.9 percent in college on just over two attempts a game.
Though he didn’t set the world on fire offensively in his rookie year, he sat around league average with a lot of his efficiency rankings, and he showed growth this year too.
He shot 40 percent from three post the All-Star break on a great volume of five attempts a game.
As a defender, Hunter has a massive seven-foot wingspan. He has a high defensive ceiling because of his size and speed but needs to work hard on his defensive IQ and technique.
He has a strong body and frame at 225 pounds, and there is no reason that he wouldn’t defend multiple positions in the future.
The Hawks have another high lottery pick in the draft this year, and when you add other wings in Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish, and the pending salary obligations of John Collins this season, and Trae Young getting a certain max in two more years, they have pressure around who to build with. The almost $50 million in cap space they have this coming free agency needs to be spent too, so they may need to consolidate in a trade.
The Blazers could send Trevor Ariza and their first-round pick in this draft to the Hawks to bring in Hunter. He is still raw, but he is 22 and would fit nicely as a forward rather than the Blazers selecting a 19-year-old in the draft.
Some more salary would need to be added to make this trade work, but the key pieces would be Ariza and Hunter.
The Blazers need a small forward who can add to their strong guard core. One of these three could be a solution.