Cavaliers Notes: Korver, Burks, Hill, Sexton

The Cavaliers‘ decision to trade Kyle Korver to the Jazz on Wednesday was made because the team wanted to move him while he was still healthy and productive, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. Korver has a history of foot issues, most recently causing him to miss two games last month. Korver has been on the market for a while and the Cavs didn’t want to take the chance of another injury derailing a deal.

Cleveland had been hoping to get a first-round pick in exchange for the 37-year-old sharpshooter, Pluto adds, and although several teams were interested in acquiring Korver, no one was willing to part with a first-rounder. Several Cavaliers teammates were upset to lose Korver, who had a 22-point game on Monday.

There’s more news today out of Cleveland:

• Alec Burks, whom the Cavs acquired in the Korver deal, is thrilled about the chance for more playing time, relays Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Burks already has a connection to Rodney Hood and George Hill, his former teammates in Utah, and to coach Larry Drew, who played against Burks’ father. “Opportunity is everything in this league,” Burks said. “I feel like I have a great one here. Just trying to take advantage of it and help my new team win.” However, Fedor points out that Burks’ stay in Cleveland might be brief. He has an $11.5MM expiring contract that could make him attractive to a contender before the February 7 trade deadline.
• Hill is returning to action tonight after missing more than three weeks with a sprained shoulder, tweets Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Drew confirmed that Hill is ready to go, adding that rookie Collin Sexton will remain in the starting lineup as the shooting guard.
• The Cavaliers made a couple of housekeeping moves this week, according to the Real GM transactions page, renouncing their free-agent exception rights to Shawn Marion and James Jones. Marion retired in 2015, while Jones called it quits in 2017 and serves as interim GM of the Suns.