Kyle Korver trade makes LeBron and the Cavaliers even more deadly

Ray Allen once won LeBron James a championship. Sure, James was the best player on the floor for the entirety of the 2013 NBA Finals — but he can’t make every shot. That, as much as anything, is why the Cavaliers traded for Kyle Korver on Wednesday.

The Hawks are an estate sale right now and everyone’s invited. Paul Millsap will reportedly be the next piece on the move, and surely Thabo Sefolosha won’t be too far behind him. Korver is a 35-year-old approaching free agency this summer and Cleveland snagged him for almost nothing. It’s a move they had to make.

The Cavaliers bench was already shallow before J.R. Smith underwent thumb surgery that will keep him out until late March. Lately, it’s been tragic. Cleveland trusts Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, and Iman Shumpert off the bench, and they’ve been forced to turn the forgotten DeAndre Liggins into a rotation piece. It’s resulted in LeBron averaging over 38 minutes per game since the start of December, even playing 44 minutes against the Celtics in regulation. Kyrie Irving has also played extended minutes, playing about 35 minutes per game this year.

It’s too many minutes for a team that knows their season doesn’t really start until mid-April. Mike Dunleavy — who appears to be headed to Atlanta in the deal — was a disappointment this season, but the role planned for him as a sharpshooting wing can go to Korver instead. It couldn’t be a better fit.

Korver’s age — he turns 36 in March — may be catching up to him, but it hasn’t affected his jump shot. In Atlanta, Korver was scoring about 10 points while shooting 41 percent on five three-point attempts per game. Korver averages about five catch-and-shoot jump shots per game, hitting 44 percent of them. He’ll be even more open in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers are second in the league in three-pointers made, three-pointers attempted, and three-point field-goal percentage. They also shoot the second-most catch-and-shoot threes of any team in the league, with James ranking second in assists on made threes, per ESPN. With Korver, they’ll now be gunning for first in all those categories.

Yes, Korver is a declining defender. He was a solid team defender on the 60-win Hawks squad two years ago, but his age is catching up to him more and more these days. He’ll likely be taking minutes from above-average defenders like Shumpert and Liggins, which will make it even more obvious. But the shooting ... the shooting.

Cleveland has only played its Irving-Smith-Shumpert-James-Love lineup in seven games this year, for a total of 22 minutes. It already scores nearly 116 points per 100 possessions, while limiting teams to 92 points on the other side. Now swap Korver’s 43 percent career three-point shooting for Shumpert’s 34 percent, and you figure out how teams should guard that.

The move will earn Cavaliers general manager David Griffin even more well-deserved kudos for the work he has done in Cleveland. Since LeBron returned, he has traded for Kevin Love, traded again for Smith, Shumpert and the temporarily useful Timofey Mozgov, signed Richard Jefferson off the scrapheap and into a huge role as a reliable bench player, and now snagged one of the league’s deadliest shooters to complement James off the bench. And while it wasn’t entirely Griffin’s say, he also replaced David Blatt with Tyronn Lue in the middle of a season — a winning season, no less! Virtually every move has paid huge dividends.

The Cavaliers are reigning champions because of LeBron, with the other starters making huge contributions. Korver doesn’t sway them far, but he’s more than a cosmetic change. It’s hard to fathom how much he’ll help their spacing, given they have two players who can’t be kept out of the lane with single coverage. If anything, James and Irving may be taking even more layups, simply because defenses can’t leave anyone on the perimeter. Even in the regular season, if Korver can help bring down the minutes of the starters, that’s a huge plus.

Of course, Korver probably isn’t going to hit a game-tying step-back three-pointer to save the Cavaliers from elimination in a Game 6 like Ray Allen did in those finals four years ago. But you know he could. That’s the type of shooter he is, and no doubt the best shooter James has played with since Allen. After being eliminated from the playoffs by James three times since 2011, Korver’s surely glad to be on his side now.

If Korver only has a single playoff moment — no matter which game or round — he’s worth sacrificing a future pick and a long shot prospect. The Cavaliers are going all in on James’ prime, and that’s why Korver’s in Cleveland now.