Rewind to the spring of 2019. Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter put together a sensational March Madness run, their brilliance helping lead Virginia to its first ever men’s basketball national championship. Navigating through five tournament games and then a cinematic finale, the duo ingrained themselves into program history.
Now the two are looking to do the same thing, on a team with the same mascot, but in new scenery, 444 miles northwest of Charlottesville in Cleveland. The pair, who reunited earlier this season on the Cleveland Cavaliers, are on a quest for a second ring together, and it is taking shape after they breezed through the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Cavaliers dismantled the Miami Heat in four games, their series-clinching win coming in dominant fashion, a 138-83 victory that stands as the fourth-largest win in playoff history.
Jerome, now in his second year with the team, has orchestrated a phenomenal breakout season, one that made him a finalist for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. He is averaging a career-high 12.5 points per game, while shooting 51.6 and 43.9 percent from the field and three-point range, respectively.
In his first-ever playoff game, he erupted, scoring 28 points in 26 minutes — the third-most points scored by a Cavalier in franchise history during a playoff debut.
“This is who he’s been. This isn’t a shocker,” childhood friend and teammate Donovan Mitchell said. “I don’t think any of us are surprised at what he’s doing on a nightly basis.”
Hunter, who joined the Cavaliers via trade Feb. 6, has proved himself as a steady presence, averaging 14.3 points per game in 27 regular-season appearances. His versatility has been a lethal weapon. He showcased his offensive arsenal during the final two games of the Heat series, scoring 21 and 19 points and posting a game-high plus-34 plus-minus in game three.
Jerome and Hunter both have played integral roles in Cleveland’s Eastern Conference-best record. But it took a while for their contrasting journeys from that 2019 national championship team to intersect.
Jerome’s road to Cleveland started in Phoenix after a draft-night exchange with the Philadelphia 76ers. His early career was injury-riddled, as ankle and groin injuries forced him to bounce around, through trades and the waiver-wire, from the Phoenix Suns to the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors. Never being able to carve out a definitive role on any of these squads, he spent heavy time in the G League as well.
After that series of teams, trades, injuries and G League affiliates, the Cavaliers finally gave Jerome the opportunity to settle down, offering him a two-year, $5 million contract. However, within the first two games of this contract, Jerome suffered another devastating injury to his ankle, one that caused him to miss all of last season.
No stranger to adversity, Jerome bounced back, carved out a role with the Cavaliers this season and emerged as a bona fide contributor to their winning ways. His contract will expire this offseason, opening the possibility of handsome payments as an unrestricted free agent.
Hunter’s journey has been a lot more straightforward, although it's been one faced with obstacles as well. After a flurry of draft exchanges, Hunter ended up with the Atlanta Hawks, and in five and a half seasons with the team, he started the majority of his appearances, averaging 15.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. In 2021, the NBA named him to the Rising Stars game.
Hunter has had his fair share of outstanding playoff performances as well. In three total playoff series with the Hawks, he averaged 16 points and 4.5 rebounds. His best game as a Hawk came in the 2022 playoff, when he dropped a career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds in a first-round loss to the Miami Heat.
Hunter’s production has never been in question, but his availability over the years has been concerning at times. He has missed significant portions of his six-year career due to right knee issues, largely due to a torn right meniscus and a right wrist tendon injury from 2021-2022.
Returning from absence after being sidelined for right knee inflammation over the past year and a half, he appeared in 37 games for the Hawks this season, averaging a career-high 19 ppg before being dealt to the Cavaliers during the NBA trade deadline.
As Jerome and Hunter find themselves competing side by side once more, the challenges and hardships that the NBA has brought for both of them have built them into the players they are today..
“We’ve been talking about playing together for years,” Hunter said, addressing the media for the first time since the trade. “For it to actually come together and to actually happen, and you know especially at a place like this, you know, it's amazing.”
The stakes are high for Cleveland, as they have decimated teams throughout the course of the season. High expectations are old news for Jerome and Hunter, things they have dealt with together before.
But they will reach another level as they look to eliminate their next opponent, the fast-paced Indiana Pacers, in the second round of the playoffs. Starting off slow and never being able to recover, the Cavaliers suffered their first loss of the postseason in a 121-112 game one defeat. The team will look to shake back and even the series as they host game two Tuesday night.
This is a playoff run that started for the team only a couple weeks ago. But for Jerome and Hunter, this is a journey that goes back much longer.
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