On Jan. 31, one week before the annual NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a big move.
They sent De’Andre Hunter to the Kings in a three-way deal with the Bulls, and out of it, the Cavs got 32-year-old Dennis Schroder and 26-year-old Keon Ellis.
Hunter started his career with the Atlanta Hawks, where the Hawks ended up trading De’Andre Hunter to the Cavs for Caris LeVert and Georges Niang. With
the Cavs, Hunter averaged 14.1 points per game and was known for his three-point ability and for his spectacular cross-overs.
Dennis Schroder has been bouncing around the league. He has been in the NBA for 13 seasons, and the Cavs would be his eleventh different team. He averages 13.9 points in his career, but he is known as a pass-first guy, where he averages 4.9 assists per game. Schroder played in Germany for a little while, where he won the German league championship. Schroder also played for Team Germany in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Ellis is a 26-year-old guard, and for his entire career, he played for the Kings until he was traded. Ellis is known for being a sharpshooter and is a really good defender. This season, Ellis has 12 different games with two or more steals, and he also averaged 1.7 steals per game.
If you look at both teams and what they are getting in this trade, the Kings struggled a lot this season, and that was mainly because of injuries, as both Zach Levine and Domantas Sabonis have both been out the majority of the year, so with the addition of Hunter, it will help the Kings work towards a better season next year.
The Cavs, on the other hand, are in win-now mode and with the addition of both Schroder and Ellis, will get them to a spot that they need to be. The Cavs this year have struggled heavily on the defensive end all year, even though they had one of the best defenses last year. Ellis, who averaged 1.7 steals a game, will boost their defense. Schroder brings a lot of grit to the Cavs, being a veteran in the league, and he is always two steps ahead of the defense.
