The Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers are reportedly in discussions about a trade involving Kyle Korver, and as far as two potential project returns for Korver, either Philly’s Furkan Korkmaz or Landry Shamet could be intriguing.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are not going anywhere this season, despite initially having the intentions to compete for an Eastern Conference postseason birth. That plan didn’t work, and the team has to be shifting gears toward a full-scale rebuild now. That means Kyle Korver has to be on the trade block, and The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor (h/t Bleacher Report’s Timothy Rapp) reported that the possibility of Korver to the Philadelphia 76ers is still strongly in play at this juncture, saying that Philly “talked a trade with the Cavaliers for Kyle Korver during the offseason and retain interest now, according to league sources.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe initially reported that Philadelphia traded Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a 2022 second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler and project big Justin Patton, and even in getting a star, they need to recoup some perimeter shooting, which Korver would provide. Korver is still playing well even in a reduced role this year for the Cavs, as he’s hitting three-pointers at a 38.7 percent clip, and with his proven shooting ability as a 43.1 percent career three-point marksman and who’s fourth all-time in threes made, Cleveland should get something for him. Either Landry Shamet and Furkan Korkmaz could be two nice developmental targets from Philly in a Korver trade.
Paul Centopani of The Step Back recently suggested a Korver-Channing Frye (who is eligible to be traded on December 15) shipment to Philly and a Cleveland return of Shamet and Mike Muscala, and that makes sense to me for Cleveland’s future. Shamet, a rookie, is just 21, and he’s shown signs already of being a solid bench contributor. In college at Wichita State, Shamet averaged 12.9 points per game in three seasons, but most importantly, hit 43.7 percent of his three-point shots (on 5.1 attempts per game).
He’s hitting just 33.3 percent from deep early on, but as a rookie just 14 games into his professional career and taking 4.9 per game, he’s doing just fine. While he did handle a good amount of playmaking duties in college and is a willing passer, Shamet doesn’t project as a great on-ball creator at the NBA level, but going forward with Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman being Cleveland’s primary playmakers, Shamet wouldn’t have to have a huge on-ball role.
He moves without the ball really well, though, and he is a player that projects as a good spot-up threat with his natural instincts allowing him to get a number of wide-open shot opportunities. He’s flashed that ability with the Sixers in spurts already.
With the Cavaliers offense trying to shift more toward a ball and man movement emphasis in the near future, Shamet would fit in perfectly, and as was mentioned, he’s only 21. Even with Korver on the roster, the Cavaliers are last in both three-pointers made and attempted, per NBA.com. Adding Shamet’s potential as a sniper could soften the blow of losing Korver and another good perimeter shooter in the aforementioned Frye, who could give Philly some spot minutes as a career 38.7 percent three-point shooting big.
Just like Shamet, Korkmaz (who is 21 as well) would provide young potential as a catch-and-shoot contributor off the bench for Cleveland. While he hasn’t played much, with only 21 game appearances in 96 potential games in the NBA and only an average of 6.3 minutes per game, he has good size as a 6-foot-7 two guard and can hit from the outside. While it was only Summer League action, he did drop 40 points (with eight threes) against the Boston Celtics in July. Though he’s shot only 28.6 percent from deep to begin his career, he’s barely had a chance to show what he can do on the Sixers.
Korkmaz’s third-year option was not picked up for next year, and according to Keith Pompey of The Inquirer, Korkmaz “requested to be traded because of lack of playing time.”
He’s a much better shooter than that 28.6 percent three-point mark, and getting more playing time on a rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers squad could provide him more opportunities, as he’d likely be able to provide some ability to play the 3 off the bench, especially if Cleveland moves J.R. Smith by the trade deadline.
Korkmaz times his cuts well for a young player, and the Team Turkey teammate of Cedi Osman could benefit from Osman’s passing ability as an instinctive cutter.
Like Shamet and Korkmaz, Muscala is a solid catch-and-shoot player in his own right, but he would only be included for salary matching purposes, and given that he’s on an expiring deal, it’s unclear what impact he’d have for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Write for us!Nonetheless, Shamet or Korkmaz paired with Muscala (which would work financially, per ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine) would at least allow the Cavs to get something in return for Korver, and both of the first two names mentioned would fit with Cleveland’s youth movement in the near future as developmental shooters.