The Cleveland Cavaliers have made another trade, as they’ve sent Alec Burks to the Sacramento Kings as part of a three-team deal. Burks was acquired by the Cavaliers in November as part of a trade with the Utah Jazz.
After three months with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Alec Burks’ time with the organization has come to an end. The Cavaliers have reportedly traded Burks to the Sacramento Kings as part of a three-team deal also involving the Houston Rockets, as was initially reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. In return, the Cavaliers received Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss, a lottery-protected 2019 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick (per a Cavs’ announcement) from the Rockets.
Also involved in the transaction from Cleveland’s perspective was the Cavaliers moving recently-acquired Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin IV, and a 2021 second-round pick (via the Milwaukee Bucks, per the Cavs’ annoucement) to the Rockets. Both players were traded for in the Wine and Gold’s deal with the Portland Trail Blazers. For the record, Stauskas and Baldwin would soon after be traded to the Indiana Pacers by Houston in exchange for a Rockets’ second-round pick, and of course, the Pacers would soon after follow that up by waiving Stauskas and Baldwin (both per Wojnarowski).
Former Cavalier Iman Shumpert was moved to Houston by way of Sacramento as well, and in exchange, the Rockets sent the Kings a 2020 second-round pick (again, per the Cavs’ announcement).
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It’s the second move made in four days by Cleveland Cavaliers general manager, Koby Altman. He traded Rodney Hood to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday afternoon (which was also initially reported by Wojnarowski).
In 34 games with Cleveland, Burks had posted 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists on an average of 28.8 minutes. He started 24 of those contests and that really displayed what he could do when he was given an opportunity to get extended playing time. His ability to score off-the-dribble helped the Cavaliers at times when the team struggled to find a rhythm on offense.
Burks had been mentioned in trade talks as soon as he was acquired by the Cavaliers. His expiring contract would be something that appealed to contenders, as he’s a short-term rental that teams wouldn’t mind losing after the season if the plans worked out that way. With a good attack-mentality to get to the rim, Burks serves as a serviceable option for a playoff squad’s second unit.
Knight has been with the Rockets for 12 games after missing the 2017-18 season entirely. He’s seen just 9.8 minutes of play per game and is averaging 3.0 points, per Basketball Reference. It isn’t an impressive stat line by any means but Knight could return to being a bucket-getter, like how he was for the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in his career.
Meanwhile, Chriss has seen 16 games with the Rockets, playing just 6.5 minutes per night. He’s averaging just 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds as he’s fallen out of the rotation as quickly as he was traded from the Phoenix Suns this summer.