Atlanta Hawks: Grading De’Andre Hunter’s injury plagued, breakout season

Atlanta Hawks season highlights for De’Andre Hunter

Hunter opened the season well with a plus 40 impact on the box score in the first game of the season against the Chicago Bulls. He followed that up with a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds against the Memphis Grizzlies in another big win to start the season.

The most impressive game of Hunter’s young season was the second game of a baseball series against the Brooklyn Nets. The Hawks lost the first game, with Hunter collecting 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

The next game it appeared that Hunter took this loss upon himself collecting 23 points and six rebounds in the return game. However, it was his work on Kevin Durant which spoke volumes. The Nets star almost had a triple-double in the first game, but Hunter stopped him from being able to get the offense going, lowering his shooting efficiency and halving the assists Durant gave out. The Hawks won the second game.

Later in the season, Hunter gave us a taste of what he was capable of with a massive 33 points, four rebounds, four assists, and a steal in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Hawks were missing Clint Capela, Trae Young, and Bogdan Bogdanovic so to only lose by 14 points was largely thanks to Hunter and John Collins who had 30 points.