Portland Trail Blazers: Trade ideas for Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith amid Cleveland Cavaliers drama

Portland Trail Blazers(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
Portland Trail Blazers(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

Both of Cleveland’s sharpshooting guards, J.R. Smith and Kyle Korver, have had trade news drama flaring up about them. Here are two trade ideas for the Portland Trail Blazers if they wanted to pursue either of them.

Remember the Cleveland Cavaliers? The team that LeBron used to be on but isn’t anymore? They’re not doing so hot. Recently, the club fired their championship coach Tyronn Lue after an 0-6 start to the season and disagreements over who should play. They now sit at 1-8. Making matters worse: J.R. Smith publicly acknowledged that he wanted to be traded while news is coming out that the team had promised Kyle Korver that if LeBron James did not re-sign, he would be traded. So, it looks like both of these guys could be available to the Portland Trail Blazers!

A tandem of sharpshooting swingmen, Smith and Korver have been important pieces to the Cavaliers’ championship runs. Smith is a career 37.4 percent three-point shooter. Korver is a legend from beyond the arc, holding fourth all-time for three-pointers made. Both have the ability to instantly improve a team’s spacing and long range shooting percentages.

Full-disclosure, I don’t love either of these guys on the Blazers. But I think there’s a world where you could justify an attempt at bringing either of these players in (especially Korver).

So, let’s just have fun with it.

I’ve come up with two trade ideas. One that nets Kyle Korver. And another that brings in J.R. and George Hill.

Before we dive into them, there’s something we have to agree on…