The Cleveland Cavaliers have traded veteran forward Kyle Korver to the Utah Jazz according to ESPN.
Cleveland will receive shooting guard Alec Burks and two future second-round picks from Utah in 2020 and 2021.
Burks is averaging 8.4 points per game on 41.2% shooting and around 15 minutes per game in 17 appearances this season.
He’s on the final year of his 4 year, $42 million dollar contract and is making $11.1 million this season.
Burks will be reunited with his former Utah teammate Rodney Hood in Cleveland. The two played alongside one another from 2014 till last February when Hood was traded to Cleveland.
As for Korver, he now gets an opportunity to play for another playoff contender and where he spent two and a half seasons earlier in his NBA career.
Korver was traded from Philadelphia to Utah in December of 2007 and played there till 2010 when he signed with the Chicago Bulls in free agency.
Korver has spent nearly the last two seasons with the Cavs after being acquired from the Atlanta Hawks back in January of 2017.
He gave the Cavs instant offense off the bench and was the sharpshooter he’s been advertised to be throughout his sixteen year NBA career.
In 124 games (5 starts), he averaged 9.3 points per game and shot 45.1% from three-point distance in a Cavaliers uniform.
In the postseason (40 games), he averaged 7.4 points and shot 40.4% from three-point distance to help the Cavaliers make it to the NBA Finals in both 2017 and 2018 but just couldn’t get past the Warriors.
Cleveland awarded Korver with a three-year, $22 million dollar contract following the 2017 season with assurances that if Lebron James left in free agency, they would trade him to a contender.
When James did opt to leave for the Lakers, the team did not trade him and talked publicly how they were going to compete for a playoff spot. Things changed quickly one the season started and they wanted to go younger.
Korver did remain in the rotation, playing in 16 games averaging 15.7 minutes per contest and averaging 6.8 points per game and shooting 46.1% from three.
He was also a good mentor to the young players including Cedi Osman who he helped transform his shot which looks pretty close to Korver’s release.
Now he gets the opportunity with Utah to compete in the stacked Western Conference. At least the organization did right by him and traded him to a winner instead of wasting away on a rebuilding team like the Cavs.
The North Coast Sports 