De'Andre Hunter of the Atlanta Hawks has reached a four-year, $95 million contract extension with the team, ESPN reported, quoting his agents Thad Foucher and Joe Smith of Wasserman on Monday.

In his third NBA season during the 2021-22 campaign, Hunter averaged 13.4 points and made 1.4 triples per game. He is the Hawks' best wing defender and able to swing to power forward in the small-ball squad with his 2.03-meter height and 102-kilogram weight.

However, the Hawks as a whole were one of the worst teams in the NBA on defense last season, ranking 26th in defensive rating and 21st in points allowed per game. In order to change that, they traded heavily with the San Antonio Spurs for All-Defensive Second Team member Dejounte Murray.

Hunter's extension became the Hawks' latest move to keep a young core lineup that includes him, Trae Young and John Collins, all of whom have at least four years left on their current deal with the team.

Hunter was drafted by the Hawks with the fourth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The deadline for teams to reach early extension with players from his class is 6 p.m. ET on Monday. The three players drafted before him – Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett – all signed new deals much earlier than Hunter. So did some of the players drafted after Hunter: Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Jordan Poole and Keldon Johnson.

Kevin Porter Jr., Brandon Clarke and Nassir Little, like Hunter, reached extensions with their teams less than one day before the deadline. Porter Jr. received a four-year, $82.5 million extension with the Houston Rockets but his salary was only fully guaranteed for the first year. Brandon Clarke agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. Little and the Portland Trail Blazers reached a four-year, $28 million extension.

Compared with the above players, the following youngsters are not very lucky despite good performances with their teams: Matisse Thybulle of the Philadelphia 76ers, Cameron Johnson of the Phoenix Suns, Grant Williams of the Boston Celtics, Coby White of the Chicago Bulls, P.J. Washington of the Charlotte Hornets and Rui Hachimura of the Washington Wizards.

Thybulle was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team in the past two seasons and is the 76ers' first defensive option in the wing position, but he was always offensive deadweight. Johnson was supposed to be a key piece of the Suns' lineup since the team upset and gave up Jae Crowder for him, but Johnson and the Suns reportedly disagreed on the salary number of the extension. Grant Williams was one of the Celtics' biggest surprises during the playoffs last season with his 3-point shooting and individual defense in the low block, but apparently his performance was not good enough to convince the team to give him the deal he wants.

The above teams still hold the right of priority to sign extensions with these players from the 2019 class in summer 2023. However, as they will become restricted free agents then, some of the teams will have to face offers from competitors. Some of those offers could be toxic for them to match.