Atlanta Hawks: NBA execs rate De’Andre Hunter as most likely for breakout season

For anyone who has watched the Atlanta Hawks play basketball in the last two seasons, they know that De’Andre Hunter is a player who is going to have a massive future in the NBA. He was the most underrated player last season for the team and some say the second-best Hawks player prior to his injury.

In fact, at the start of the season, he was playing so well that he could have been considered the third cornerstone of the franchise behind Trae Young and John Collins. Then the dreaded injury curse of the Hawks took Hunter out of the lineup for most of the season.

While the news is not looking great so far this preseason where Hunter is still experiencing soreness. Hopefully, this is just the lingering effects of the surgery and not the same issue resurfacing.

The Atlanta Hawks have a number of candidates for breakout seasons including De’Andre Hunter.

The player most likely in the NBA to have a breakout season is Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies who received 17 percent of the votes. Hunter only received one vote from the general managers of the league as most likely to have a breakout season.

The thing is the Hawks have a number of candidates who could have a breakout season. Cam Reddish is another third-year player on the Hawks squad who is coming back from injury and has the potential to be anything. Just look at his playoff debut last season.

Kevin Huerter has just entered his fourth season and given the way that he played last season, he could be poised for a breakout season. He has given the team what it needed every night that he played and now that he has been under Nate McMillan for half a season could blossom into anything.

This is part of the reason the Hawks are so exciting to watch. They have the best young core in the NBA and they are getting better. There is a good chance that if Hunter can have a breakout season then the Hawks may go all the way to a championship this season.