The all-important Year 5 for Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter

It’s hard to believe, but Atlanta Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter is already entering his 5th season in the league. Many consider Year 5 to be a benchmark for a player’s career and that couldn’t be more true for the former 4th overall pick.

His path to the Hawks was anything but conventional. Originally picked by the Lakers, his draft rights were traded two weeks later in the blockbuster Anthony Davis trade to the New Orleans Pelicans. One day later, the Hawks landed him in a separate trade and immediately signed him to a multi-year contract.

Atlanta traded for Hunter believing they had their forward of the future. The upside on defense was there, but he needed to improve on the offensive end.

Injuries have held Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter back

Last season was the most healthy season for Hunter as he played in 67 games. In 318 possible career games, Hunter has only played 206 which is 65% of possible career games. In the 72-game shortened 2020-2021 season, Hunter only played in 23 games. He missed the entire month of February and missed all but two games in March as well.

Hunter battled knee injuries throughout the season but was healthy just in time for the Hawks’ 2021 postseason run.

He scored in double figures in three of the five games against the Knicks in the first-round series. Having a healthy Hunter for the playoff run would have been huge, but he was not seen past the first round.

After the Knicks series, he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus and would miss the rest of the playoff run.

The most important thing for Hunter is to stay healthy. He played in his most games in a single season in 2022-2023 and you only hope that continues.

Injuries aside, Hunter has been improving his game and was recently seen working out with well-known NBA skills trainer Chris Brickley!

According to NBA.com, the Hawks ranked 1st in attempted pull-up jump shots in the entire NBA at 28.0 per game. Hunter in particular had the highest eFG% on the team at 53.6% on 3.9 attempts per game.

Hunter has always been effective in the mid-range area, but his deep ball has been improving as well. NBA Scouting Live described Hunter as a player who is “reluctant to shoot threes.” In his rookie season he squashed that notion as he attempted 4.8 three-pointers a game—the highest mark of his career thus far.

He attempted 4.3 three-pointers per game this past season.

De’Andre Hunter working to improve

Another thing they noted in their scouting report was that he did not “…collect enough steals or blocks.” To their credit, Hunter has a career average of just 0.7 blocks and 0.3 steals per game. Hunter has never averaged at or over 1.0 steal or block per game. However, as was showcased in a previous article about Jalen Johnson, his impact on the defensive end is far greater than the stat sheet shows (at least the basic ones).

Throughout his career, Hunter has compiled a career 2.9 DWS (Defensive Win Shares), and his 6-foot-7 frame along with a 7-foot-2 wingspan allows him to easily keep himself in front of his defender. Unfortunately, the Hawks were in the bottom five in the league in opponents shooting percentage.

They allowed teams to shoot 48.7% from the floor which ranked 25th in the league.

His career DBPM (Defensive Box Plus-Minus) is a career minus-1.3, but that stat doesn’t reflect well individually as it is a team-oriented stat.

Another stat that can be misleading is his offensive vs defensive rating. For the past few seasons, Atlanta has had one of the best offenses in the league which does boost that stat.

On the other hand, Atlanta is known for having a not-so-great defense which directly affects his defensive rating being so high. Unfortunately, it is hard to show a player’s value on defense as most of the statistics are affected by team performance. However, most people would say Hunter is the best defender on the Hawks.

Confidence is key for De’Andre Hunter’s offense

Despite the defensive upside and ability he’s displayed his whole career, Hunter’s offensive game is not quite as strong. He is a career 13.9 points per game scorer on 44.4% from the field. That isn’t terrible, however, that is quite average.

If we look at League Adjusted Shooting (found on basketball reference), it shows that Hunter is merely an average shooter from all areas of the floor.

With the Hawks’ offense being as prolific as it has been over the last few years, Hunter doesn’t need to be an elite offensive player, but you’d like him to be above average as a shooter to further improve his game.

Year 5 is an important year for Hunter because what you get out of him this season is probably what you can expect out of him moving forward in his career. And with the Hawks fluttering his name in trade rumors this offseason, it feels like he could be on the move at some point in the near future.

Regardless of what happens with Hunter, this year could prove to be a make-or-break one for the fifth-year player.

During the playoff series vs the Boston Celtics, Hunter showed positive signs with his play. In the six-game series, Hunter averaged 16.7 points on 46% shooting from the field and 37% from beyond the arc. It wasn’t just that his percentages and scoring increased, his volume did as well. Compared to his regular season statistics, Hunter took 14.2 shots per game (an increase from 12.3 in the regular season) and 6.3 attempts from three (an increase from 4.3 in the regular season).

Although it was just a small sample size, it shows that Hunter not only has confidence in himself but that he is not afraid of the big moments.

As long as Hunter goes into the season confident, there is only room for improvement on the offensive end. Once Quin Snyder entered the picture for the Hawks, the offensive philosophy changed and revolved around shooting more three-pointers. Hunter was a clear benefit despite the fact that he excels more in the mid-range area.

If Hunter can carry the momentum and confidence from the sample size in the playoffs, you can expect a spike in efficiency and volume which would overall increase his offensive production!