Can De’Andre Hunter Make A Second-Year Leap Like Trae Young Did?

Last year during his rookie season, De’Andre Hunter appeared in 63 games, starting in 62 of them. After being drafted 4th overall, the Hawks had big plans for the 6’7” forward and utilized his two-way play immediately on the wing. 

Hunter averaged 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and shot 41% from the floor, 35.5% from three-point range. The best part about De’Andre Hunter’s style of play is that he is athletic enough to make plays for himself going towards the rim, but he is also a major factor on the defensive end of the court. 

While his defensive statistics may not show it, De’Andre Hunter is a great one-on-one defender and can contest perimeter shooter’s shots with ease as a result of his 7-foot wingspan. For an Atlanta Hawks team that finished dead last in opponent’s scoring, giving up an average of 119.7 points per game, Hunter is an extremely valuable asset and will be relied upon a lot this year to continue making an impact on the defensive end of the court. 

In his second season in the NBA, Trae Young absolutely dominated and made his first All-Star appearance. While Hunter is not the offensive-minded player or pure scoring machine that Trae Young is, he can be the anchor of this team’s defense on the perimeter. Everyone knows the Atlanta Hawks will be able to score this season given their offseason additions to a team that ranked 17th in total scoring a season ago, but the questions for this team remain on the defensive side of things. 

If De’Andre Hunter can make just as big of an impact on the defensive end of the court as Trae Young makes on the offensive end of the court, it will change this Atlanta Hawks for the better greatly and will make them a legit playoff threat in the Eastern Conference.