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The Cleveland Cavaliers completed the trade to acquire guard Kyle Korver from the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, giving the defending NBA champions another premier shooter. The Hawks in return received guard/forward Mike Dunleavy, guard Mo Williams, cash considerations and a future first-round draft pick.
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"We are extremely pleased to be able to add a player and person the caliber of Kyle Korver to our Cavs family," Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said in a statement. "Among the most prolific and dynamic three-point shooters in NBA history, a selfless, and team-first competitor, Kyle brings all of the elements of Cavs DNA that we covet on and off the floor. We look forward to welcoming Kyle, his wife, Juliet and their three children to Northeast Ohio and are certain our fans will embrace them with open arms."
The 6-foot-7, 212-pound Korver played in 32 games (21 starts) for the Hawks this season with averages of 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 27.9 minutes. He is shooting .889 from the foul line and .409 from the 3-point line, while scoring in double figures 16 times in 2016-17.
Korver, 35, spent the last four-plus seasons with the Hawks and currently ranks first on the team's all-time free-throw percentage list at .887 (329 of 371) and third on the club's all-time 3-point field-goals made chart with 818 triples. Korver shot .452 (818 of 1,811) from the 3-point line in his career with Atlanta and hit at least one triple in 311 of 332 games played with the team.
"We are incredibly grateful to Kyle for his contributions to the Hawks over the last five years," Hawks president of basketball operations/head coach Mike Budenholzer said in a statement. "He is a professional in every sense of the word and played a significant part in establishing our culture and in the success this franchise has seen. This is a difficult decision, but one we felt was in the best interest of the organization."
Cavs star LeBron James expects Korver will increase his 49-percent mark on wide-open 3s in Cleveland.
"They'll go higher than that," James told reporters Friday. "We're gonna get him the ball. He's on the floor for a reason. We're going to get it to him."
Korver addressed the in-the-works trade following Atlanta's win Thursday night in New Orleans and acknowledged that he was Cleveland-bound.
"There's definitely mixed emotions," Korver said. "There's a lot of hard ties to Atlanta, for a lot of reasons. A lot of friendships, relationships. It's where I had my best basketball years, honestly. It's where I had all my kids. It's hard to leave that behind.
"Obviously it's a great opportunity for me to go to Cleveland. So I'm very excited about that part of it. But there's a lot of relationships that I care about here that I'm going to miss. From a basketball perspective, (Cleveland is) a great, great fit for me. And I know that."
Korver is earning $5.2 million this season in the final year of his current contract.
Kevin Love, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds in the Cavs' 116-108 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night, is looking forward to seeing Korver in the lineup.
"He's going to be another veteran guy," Love said after the game. "Obviously we know he can shoot the ball. With the way that we pass, he's going to bring a whole new dynamic to this team to help spread the floor even more than we can now."
Playing in his 14th NBA season, Korver has appeared in 996 games (417 starts) with Philadelphia, Utah, Chicago and Atlanta, owning career averages of 10.0 points and 3.1 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game. He was an NBA All-Star in 2015 and ranks eighth in NBA history with 1,952 career 3-pointers (fifth among active players) and eighth all-time in 3-point field-goal percentage (.429). Korver has hit 100 threes or more 11 times in his career, including each of the last six seasons.
The 6-9, 220-pound Dunleavy, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bulls on July 7, 2016, played in 23 games (two starts) for the Cavaliers this season, averaging 4.6 points and 2.0 rebounds in 15.9 minutes.
In his 15th NBA season, the 36-year-old Dunleavy owns averages of 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 28.1 minutes playing in 956 career games (585 starts) with Golden State, Indiana, Milwaukee, Chicago and Cleveland.
The 6-1, 198-pound Williams was part of the Cavaliers' 2016 NBA championship team after signing as a free agent on July 10, 2015, and averaged 8.2 points and 2.4 assists in 18.2 minutes in 41 games (14 starts) last season.
The 34-year-old Williams, a 13-year veteran, has appeared in 818 career games (525 starts) with Utah, Milwaukee, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah, Portland, Minnesota and Charlotte, averaging 13.9 points, 4.9 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 29.2 minutes.
