Kyle Korver Excited to Join Stacked Cavaliers

The newest member of the Cleveland Cavaliers joked with reporters prior to making his debut last night that he’d have to play a game with a Cavaliers jersey on before he’d believe the trade officially happened. By his own standards, Kyle Korver is now officially a member of the Cavaliers’ roster. Now, comes the hard part.

As the Cavaliers attempt to repeat as NBA champions this season, the team felt as though adding some additional firepower was necessary. J.R. Smith has been sidelined since December 21 after undergoing surgery to repair a complex fracture in his right thumb. Smith is expected to miss at least three months as he recovers from surgery, thus creating a need at the shooting guard position.

Acquiring Korver from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams and a future first-round draft pick seemed to be an easy decision to make. By doing so, the Cavaliers added one of the most accomplished three-point shooters in league history and a savvy veteran in Korver.

Korver is eighth in NBA history with 1,952 career made three-pointers and is eighth all-time in three-point percentage at 42.9 percent. He is the only player in history to lead the league in three-point percentage three times. While Korver is 36 years old and in his 14th season in the league, the Cavaliers won’t be asking him to do anything he isn’t familiar with.

“The first thing I told him when he walked into the locker room the other day is, ‘If you want to fit in, shoot the ball every time you get it,’” LeBron James said. “Shoot the ball as soon as it touches your hands. Shoot it. We don’t care. We have about four guys that have the ultra green light. It’s J.R. [Smith], Kevin [Love], now Kyle, Channing [Frye] and Champ [James Jones]. Then you have green lights in Kyrie [Irving] and you got like a flashing light in myself. I got to make sure I get everybody involved so I can decide if I want to stop at the light or if I want to kind of just cruise through there. The fluorescent-light guys, they can do whatever they want; they have no other responsibilities besides let it go.”

Korver is up to the task set by James.

“I think that’s what you want to hear from the best player; the guy who has got the ball a lot and making a lot of decisions,” Korver said. “I’ll be ready. I usually had to work pretty hard for my shots [so] maybe there will be a few easier ones. He just said, ‘Catch it. If you’re open, let it fly.’ That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Korver made his debut last night for the Cavaliers against the Utah Jazz. He recorded just two points and three rebounds in 18 minutes off of the bench. The hard part for Korver and the Cavaliers now is trying to get him up to speed with the team’s schemes, sets and different plays.

As he mentioned prior to yesterday’s game, he hasn’t had any time to go through practice or shootaround with the team. Teams typically don’t get a lot of practice time together while on the road, and while the Cavaliers are in the middle of a six-game road trip, it may be a little while before Korver and the rest of the team gets a substantial amount of time together to get acclimated.

For Korver especially, it might take him a little bit of time before he fully gets into the swing of things with the Cavaliers. He said after the game last night that it felt like it had been a little while since he last played. He last appeared in a game with the Hawks last Wednesday against the Orlando Magic and then was held out of the Hawks’ next game the following night as the trade with the Cavaliers started to materialize. The two teams announced the trade on Saturday and Korver joined the Cavaliers while on the road trip. As he sets off with a new team, he looked back on his four-plus seasons with the Hawks.

“[I had] a lot of great relationships on and off of the floor,” Korver said. “I feel like I’ve been through a lot with the organization; a total overhaul of who they were and what they were doing. There are definitely connections in that. I put my heart into it for a bunch of years. I know this is an incredible opportunity for me. I’ve always felt like the better the players are around me, the better I can be. This is the most talented team that I’ve ever been on for sure. There are a lot of things to figure out. I haven’t practiced with the team. I haven’t done shootaround. I don’t really know what I’m doing [while I’m playing] but whatever time I get, I’m going to try to do whatever is asked of me.”

Korver departs the Hawks organization having left quite the mark during his time there. He averaged 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 332 games in Atlanta and was named an All-Star in 2015. He finished as the Hawks’ all-time leader in free-throw percentage and is third on the club’s all-time three-pointer made list with 818. While Korver now joins a different team, his former Hawks teammates are happy for him.

“It shocked me; it shocked everyone,” Kent Bazemore told Basketball Insiders. “Everyone on this team and the city of Atlanta knows how much he meant to this organization. But it’s the business of it. The Hawks are definitely trying to move in different direction. He’s with the Cavs; that is a team that there is a little bad blood in between. I’m happy for him and I wish him well down the road.”

Korver could potentially end up being a rental player for the Cavaliers, as he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season and it’s unclear at this time whether he’ll re-sign with Cleveland in July. It’s likely something he hasn’t thought much about yet as he’s making the transition to his new team.

Many around the league view this move as one that will strengthen the Cavaliers’ chances of repeating as champions. With James, Irving and Love often demanding so much attention from defenders, a player like Korver could benefit with easy looks. Head coach Ty Lue said last night after the game against the Jazz that he already saw how having Korver on the floor opens things up for other players too.

This wouldn’t be the first time that the Cavaliers benefited from a mid-season trade since they acquired J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks in similar fashion. They showed that they could get those players acclimated with some time, and it’s something they’ll try to duplicate this time around with Korver.

With Korver now in the mix, the Cavaliers just added another weapon and could become even more dangerous in the playoffs. Look out, Golden State Warriors.