Sacramento Kings make trade to acquire De’Andre Hunter from Cleveland Cavaliers
Changes have been in the works for weeks as Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry searched for opportunities to reconstruct an imbalanced roster ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
Perry made his first move late Saturday night, agreeing to a deal that will bring De’Andre Hunter to Sacramento as part of a three-team trade involving the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls.
League sources told The Sacramento Bee the Kings are sending Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis to Cleveland in exchange for Hunter. The Bulls will receive Dario Saric and two second-round draft picks, including a 2029 pick from Sacramento. Sources said that draft pick — the one the Kings acquired in a sign-and-trade deal for Schroder last summer — will be conveyed as the least favorable pick from the Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks.
Hunter, 28, is a 6-foot-7, 221-pound forward who possesses exceptional length with a 7-2 wingspan. Hunter, who came out of Virginia as the No. 4 pick in the 2019 NBA draft, has averaged 14.7 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 36.5% from 3-point range over seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Cavaliers.
Hunter averaged 17.0 points per game while shooting 47% from the field and a career-high 40.5% from 3-point range last season. This season, however, he is shooting just 42.3% from the field and a career-low 30.8% from beyond the arc.
Sending Schroder and Ellis to Cleveland in exchange for Hunter alleviates the logjam in the backcourt while adding size, length and another versatile defender to the frontcourt alongside Keegan Murray. The move will free up minutes for rookie first-round draft pick Nique Clifford at shooting guard while opening the door for the Kings to convert undrafted rookie center Dylan Cardwell from a two-way contract to a standard NBA contract.
Hunter is in the third year of a four-year, $90 million contract. He is owed $23.3 million this season and $24.9 million next season. The Kings are banking on future financial flexibility with Zach LaVine ($49 million), DeMar DeRozan ($25.7 million) and Hunter all coming off the books in the summer of 2027.
Schroder, 32, has now been traded eight times in his career. He came to the Kings last summer on a three-year, $44.4 million contract to serve as Sacramento’s starting point guard. He quickly lost the starting job to Russell Westbrook, 37, who signed a $3.6 million minimum contract with the Kings six days before the season began.
Schroder has performed fairly well in a backup role. He is averaging 12.8 points and 4.9 assists in 26.4 minutes per game. He is shooting 40.8% from the field and 34.3% from 3-point range.
Ellis, 26, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He started his NBA career as a two-way player with the Kings after going undrafted out of Alabama in 2022.
Ellis is averaging 5.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 17.6 minutes per game. He is shooting 39.7% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range.
Saric, 31, was unable to establish much of a role with the Kings after coming to Sacramento in the trade that sent Jonas Valanciunas to the Denver Nuggets. Saric appeared in only five games, averaging 1.0 points and 1.2 rebounds in 8.2 minutes per contest.
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 9:16 PM.
