Recently, the Sacramento Kings decided to shake things up by trading for De'Andre Hunter from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder. Schroder and Ellis made their return to Sacramento earlier this week, performing relatively well in the Cavs' narrow road win over the Kings.
Unfortunately, the injury bug has already started to hit Hunter since he made his way to Sacramento, as he recently suffered a freak eye injury.
“Sacramento Kings forward De’Andre Hunter has been diagnosed with iritis after taking a blow to his left eye in Friday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He will be reevaluated in about 10 days,” reported Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee on X, formerly Twitter.
The injury occurred on an inadvertent shot from Kobe Sanders of the Clippers last week, which sent Hunter down, and forced the Kings' training staff to have to come out and check on the new trade acquisition.
Injuries have been a problem for Hunter dating back to his days with the Atlanta Hawks, although, of course, this particularly instance is isolated and not the sign of things to come.
Hunter had been struggling through a down year shooting the ball for the Cavaliers this season before the trade that sent him to the Kings, seeing his field goal and three-point percentages dip dramatically when compared to the career year he enjoyed last season, when Cleveland acquired him from the Hawks at the trade deadline.
Hunter doesn't necessarily qualify as “young talent” for the Kings, who are desperate to add players whom they can potentially build around moving forward, but he does give them a serviceable wing who can space the floor when he's on it.
In any case, the Kings are next slated to take the floor on Wednesday evening on the road vs the Utah Jazz.
