Cavs Planning To Make Key Starting Lineup Change

The Cleveland Cavaliers know all about roller coasters. No, that’s not because they’re the home of popular Cedar Point. Since the franchise’s inception in 1970, they’ve experienced mountainous peaks and nearly bottomless valleys. In just the last five years, they’ve gone from one of the NBA’s worst teams to one of their best.

With that being said, what goes up has to come down and the Cavs are preparing for a trap season. Not only did they set an unfathomably high bar to reach after winning 64 games in 2024-25, they have multiple key players recovering from surgery. The good thing is that they have a plan.

Cavs Planning To Insert De’Andre Hunter In Starting Lineup

Next season, “the starting small forward…will be” six-year pro De’Andre Hunter, cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto begins. Though adding the caveat “unless there is a change of plans,” the rationale behind the move is logical: Max Strus —who has started in 128 of the 141 games he’s played with Cleveland (playoffs included) — will be out for a few months after sustaining a Jones fracture in late August.

In truth, the Cavs “already were looking at” starting Hunter “before” Strus was sidelined. As Hunter averaged a disappointing 9.0 points per game on 36.7 percent shooting from the field (30.8 percent from 3) in the Cleveland’s series against the Indiana Pacers last postseason, Pluto takes care to note that he was dealing with a finger injury. he “looked great” during the Cavs summer workouts.

There are other reasons to believe that starting Hunter over Strus is the correct path for Cleveland to take.

Size Matters

What jumps off the page and the screen is that Hunter has much more suitable size for a small forward.