Lebron James told reporters Wednesday night that their depth was being tested with the illnesses and injuries piling up on the Cavs roster. 

Well he spoke and general manager David Griffin delivered.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will trade Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams and a protected 2019 first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for All Star sharpshooter Kyle Korver. Atlanta and Cleveland are trying to find a third team to take on Dunleavy but Atlanta is willing to keep him according to reports.

Here’s the details on the protection of that draft pick

Korver is 35 years old and has been in the league for 15 years. He averages 10 points per game and shoots 42.9% from three during his NBA career. He made the All Star game in 2014 with Atlanta when they had the best record in the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 record.

This season with Atlanta prior to the trade he played in 32 games (21 starts) and averaged 9.5 points and is shooting 40.9% from three.

He’s an instant upgrade from what Dunleavy was producing. Dunleavy was acquired in July from Chicago to be that go to shooter off the bench but he never found his spot here with the Cavs.

Dunleavy appeared in 23 games and averaged 4.6 points and shot 35% from three. 

Mo Williams never reported to training camp in late September after he allegedly told the team he was retiring. Then he said he wasn’t retiring and was undergoing knee surgery and that no one in the organization cared about his injury. 

Of course the Cavs being such a great team, they’re limited with assets and flexibility to make roster moves but David Griffin finds a way to make moves to bolster the roster.

The moves he’s made to help this team win is pretty remarkable

• Dion Waiters for J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert
• Two first round picks for Timofey Mozgov
• Anderson Varejao for Channing Frye
• Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett for Kevin Love

And now trading basically a future first for a younger version of Mike Dunleavy in Korver.

It still technically doesn’t help the problem of the Cavs depth but it’s a start. Dunleavy was averaging 15 minutes per game in Cleveland while Korver is averaging 27 minutes per game this season.

Now that the trade has happened, the team will not have to release guard Jordan McRae. McRae’s contract will be  guaranteed on January 7th as well as guard DeAndre Liggins. Now, neither may have to leave now that the team has opened a roster spot with trading Williams and Dunleavy. 

Chris Andersen is still sitting on the roster and may also get traded or bought out so that the Cavaliers can make another move by the February trade deadline.

The Cavaliers also kept some key assets heading towards the trade deadline. 
They have the 9.7 million trade exception which they got in the Varejao/Frye trade which they can use to acquire a player.

They also have international player Cedi Osman who teams might be interested in and he’s told the Cavs he’ll be coming to America next season.

I still think the team needs another wing and a backup point guard and I think will get those pieces by the end of the season. We’ll also get J.R. Smith back by playoff time which should be another shot in the arm for them as they chase down another championship.