The Cleveland Cavaliers are in excellent position to dominate the Eastern Conference again in 2025-26, and De'Andre Hunter will once again play a large role in making that possible. The problem, however, with Hunter's situation, is that he's going to be earning a large paycheck relative to his production on the hardwood.
Next season, Hunter will be playing on the third year of his four-year, $90 million contract extension that he signed as a member of the Atlanta Hawks. He'll be earning $23.3 million in 2025-26, which will be the fourth-highest salary of any player currently on the Cavaliers' roster.
That's totally fine for him to earn that much. I'm not at all saying he's unworthy of that kind of payday, but just pointing out what seems to be a pretty clear discrepancy between the dollar amount on Hunter's paycheck and the role he's going to be playing for Cleveland on the court.
To put things in perspective when it comes to finances, De'Andre played the sixth-most minutes of any Cavs player last season after arriving in town at the deadline. He got on the floor for an average of 25.0 minutes per night and appeared in 27 contests in the regular season.
Hunter is earning starter money, but may not start
However, he only started five of those games, and he wasn't in the closing lineup every game either. That leads us to a situation where we have a guy who, albeit very useful, is still earning quite a bit more than the numbers might seem to necessitate.
Hunter's contract is also one that was set up to be back-loaded, meaning that it will increase in value with each year. Is this a total back-breaking issue for Cleveland? It's not, but it's also not like this doesn't carry any significance whatsoever.
Especially when you're talking about a team that's already very deep into second tax apron territory. The Cavaliers likely aren't going to trade Hunter anytime soon, but his costly salary is going to force them to make a decision at one point or another.
It's likely going to come down to season performance in the upcoming campaign. If the Cavs put together another masterful season and Hunter shines individually as well, they likely just eat the money and keep him around. But flip that result, and it could be the financial implications that might force the team to shift their strategy.