Jazz Rewind: Trade For Korver Ignites Jazz Offense

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The week started rough for the Utah Jazz. With Donovan Mitchell out for Monday’s game against the Pacers, the Jazz lost by 33 points – their fourth loss in the previous five games.

But, sometimes a team just needs a spark, and the Jazz decided to make a move, trading Alec Burks and two second round picks to the Cleveland Cavaliers for sharpshooter Kyle Korver on Wednesday afternoon. At the time of the move, the Jazz ranked as the second-worst team for three-point shooting in the NBA. The move excited Jazz fans prompting many to nickname Korver and Jazzman Joe Ingles the ‘Splash Uncles’ in reference to Golden State’s ‘Splash Brothers’.

“Did we just become best friends?” –@Joeingles7 to @KyleKorver probably.#TeamIsEverything #SplashUncles pic.twitter.com/3tvkWiKNkQ

— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) December 2, 2018

Korver wasn’t available for Wednesday’s contest against the Brooklyn Nets, but Rudy Gobert provided a spark early in the paint scoring the first eight points of the game for the Jazz with some impressive dunks. Despite the offensive firepower, Utah found itself down 78-70 at the end of the third quarter.

After missing two games, Donovan Mitchell was back in the lineup – with his family in the crowd – and led the Jazz with 29 points including 12 points in the final six minutes to allow the Jazz to take control and win 101-91.

Mitchell’s offensive firepower continued Friday against the Hornets where he scored 30 points with the help of additional spacing provided by the threat of Kyle Korver from beyond-the-arc.

In his first game back in a Jazz uniform, Korver scored 14 points on 4-6 shooting from three and Jae Crowder added 24 points off-the-bench and shot 6-10 from three.

“Anytime you come to a new place – I guess it’s not a new-new place – you want to do it right,” said Korver. “I think I knew what I was doing like a fraction of the time. These guys are great. Obviously, Quin [Snyder] was a mad scientist drawing stuff up and it was a lot of fun.”

🏀@utahjazz win, @KyleKorver returns and Coach Snyder is a mad scientist ⚗️@zakhicken @kslsports #SportsbeatAfterhours pic.twitter.com/2v5vhWHrOI

— ʜᴇᴍᴀ ʜᴇɪᴍᴜʟɪ ᴊʀ. (@HemaHeimuliJr) December 1, 2018

The Jazz wrap up their road trip against Miami Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. before returning home for two games against San Antonio and Houston.