De’Andre Hunter (wearing the headset) celebrates after his breakout performance against the Bulls on Saturday. David Liam Kyle / Getty Images

CLEVELAND — Hey Tim Hardaway, Allen Iverson, Kyrie Irving and Michael Jordan, you have some new company in the serious, ankle-breaking, in-game crossover department.

Welcome to the club, Cleveland Cavaliers forward De’Andre Hunter, who crossed over Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey so bad that Giddey hurt his ankle in the Cavs’ 128-122 win Saturday night.

Hunter, dribbling on the left wing, pounded the ball from left to right in front of Giddey, who looked like he blew a tire and crumpled to the court while Hunter went barreling toward the rim for a two-handed dunk over Patrick Williams with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

To be clear, Williams would, on a normal play, have taken some grief for being on the business end of Hunter’s slam. But compared to what happened to poor Giddey — he got crossed over so severely that, for a second, it was fair to ask if his ankle was actually broken (it was not; he returned to the game).

SHAKING OFF & TAKING OFF 😤😤 https://t.co/ZqgY9L87sR pic.twitter.com/PROr6DOS2V

— NBA (@NBA) November 9, 2025

Pandemonium ensued on Cleveland’s bench. Darius Garland, in street clothes, ran along the baseline. Thomas Bryant lay on the floor, in stunned euphoria.

“I was really just looking at the bench, I wanted to see how they reacted,” Hunter said. “I don’t think I ever made anybody fall like that and then dunk.”

Hunter is a 6-foot-8 wing in his seventh season. He has washboard abs and boulders for shoulders. Walking Greek statues can have a handle, too, and perhaps one of the dirtiest crossovers in NBA history came courtesy of the 6-foot-6 Jordan, who crossed over Utah’s Bryon Russell at the end of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals for a game-winning jumper in which Russell also fell on the play.

Irving, when he was on the Cavs, crossed over Brandon Knight in a Rising Stars game during All-Star weekend, and Knight, like Russell, ended up on the ground. There are numerous examples and offerings on YouTube of crossover compilations that stretch for 20 minutes, even an hour.

Giddey will be included on those reels for basically eternity.

“I was kind of on my tippy toes, so it’s kind of a weak point of your ankle,” Giddey said. “As he made the crossover, I was up on my tippy toe and tried to change direction, and my ankle kind of just rolled a little bit. But yeah, it’s not a good highlight reel to be on.

“Good move by him.”

Hunter and Donovan Mitchell each scored 29 points for the Cavs, who improved to 7-3 through 10 games and have scored 408 points in their last three games. Hunter entered play shooting just 36.6 percent from the field, the worst he’s ever shot to open a season. No one is talking about that now, but for those concerned about Hunter’s shooting, he was 10-of-16 and 4-of-8 on 3s Saturday.

Giddey finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Bulls, who have dropped three of their last four games after starting the season 5-0. Chicago led this game by 16 at halftime and was up by seven midway through the fourth quarter.

It was an exciting game with strong performances on both sides, excellent complaining at the referees and even a weird stoppage before the second half began. The referees called out arena workers to bring a ladder onto the court to make sure the rim the Bulls would shoot at in the second half was level (perhaps they wanted to check because Mitchell shot 1-of-10 on the same rim in the first half?). Otherwise, though, this would soon become a game lost in the shuffle of an 82-game season. To be clear as to how long these seasons are, they’ll still be playing regular-season games in April.

But in the spring, or this time next year, or five years from now, people will remember Hunter’s crossover on Giddey.

“It was just a straight ankle break and then he got to the finish,” Mitchell said of the play. “And so if you look at me, I don’t have any words, I’m just like in shock. But that was tough, and I’m grateful that Josh is OK, obviously. I know he was limping off, but it was an all-time play for sure.”

Nov 9, 2025

Connections: Sports Edition

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms

Find the hidden link between sports terms

Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland. Follow Joe on Twitter @joevardon