What’s Next for Cleveland Cavaliers After De’Andre Hunter Trade?

The Cavaliers recently traded DeAndre Hunter in exchange for Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis. Here are some moves that might be upcoming for the Cavaliers.

Dec 22, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward De'Andre Hunter (12) drives to the basket beside Charlotte Hornets guard Josh Green (10) in the first quarter at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

Late at night, on the last day of January, the Cleveland Cavaliers officially ended the De'Andre Hunter experiment after about one season of subpar results. They returned veteran point guard Dennis Schroder and young defensive guard Keon Ellis.

This trade sent waves throughout the Cavs fanbase as its implications could be vast.

Player Implications

The first implication we will get into is player roles exchanged in this deal. The Cavs acquired two guards, one of which is Dennis Schroder who is likely to assume the backup point guard role effective immediately as Lonzo Ball has struggled greatly and the organization has yet to fully trust Craig Porter Jr. to handle the fulltime backup duties.

This exchange of a small forward for a guard means that Jaylon Tyson will likely assume most, if not all, of the now traded Hunter’s minutes. It also implies that Lonzo Ball has lost his role within the rotation and is likely the next player to be moved via trade or even buyout.

Money

The next implication is, of course, the salary cap.

Hunter was due a lucrative sum next season that is now entirely off the books, this will save the Cavs about $7 million in salary cap space(plus much more in tax) and create a traded player exception(which they can use this season) of the same value.

Dennis Schroder joins the Cavaliers bearing a lofty $14 million dollar cap hit, which increases to $15 million until the end of his deal in 2029. It would be puzzling for the Cavaliers to retain Schroder throughout the entirety of this deal with the excess of young guards on the roster.

The Cavaliers also acquired 26 year old shooting guard Keon Ellis. Ellis is in his final season of an expiring deal of which the Cavaliers will have the option to extend him starting on February 9th. The Cavaliers would be able to extend Ellis up to a 3 year $52 million extension, further exceeding the second apron threshold.

What's next?

The Cavaliers will likely be quite busy in the coming days/weeks. 

In the short term, the Cavs need to move Lonzo Ball. With the acquisition of Schroder, Ball’s role is gone and with it the Cavaliers should try and get whatever assets they can for Ball, and out from under his $10 million deal, before the deadline.

Next, the Cavs will have to make a decision on whether or not to extend Keon Ellis for up to $52 million over three years. They will have until the end of the season to make a decision on extending Ellis; however, he will become an unrestricted free agent if the Cavs fail to extend him.

Once the offseason arrives, the Cavaliers will need to make a decision on what to do with Schroder. To stick around, Dennis needs to show he is worth $12+ million more than Craig Porter Jr., who is only under contract for one more season himself.