Kyle Korver recently praised his former Cleveland Cavaliers running mate J.R. Smith, calling him one of his favorite teammates of all time. Allen Iverson joined in on the lovefest, saying that he misses the two sharpshooters.
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Iverson shared the court with Korver for three full seasons, from the 2003-04 campaign to the 2005-06 campaign, with the Philadelphia 76ers. They were teammates for a short while in the 2006-07 season before Iverson was traded to the Denver Nuggets.
Unfortunately, their time together didn’t yield much team success, as the Sixers made the playoffs just once during that stretch. However, Iverson continued to be a stellar one-man wrecking crew for Philadelphia, averaging 30.5 points and 7.4 assists per game from the 2003-04 season through the 2005-06 season.
As for Korver, he immediately displayed his long-range potential, especially in the 2004-05 campaign. He drained 2.8 3-pointers per match in his sophomore season, earning a spot in the starting lineup for most of the regular season alongside Iverson.
When the former MVP was traded to the Nuggets, he found himself playing with another marksman in Smith. While Iverson probably enjoyed being on the court with a lethal floor spacer, he played just 135 games across three seasons with the Nuggets.
Korver and Smith became teammates in Cleveland when the then-defending champions traded for the one-time All-Star midway into the 2016-17 campaign. The front office was likely hoping that having another weapon from beyond the arc beyond in addition to Smith would provide superstar LeBron James with enough room to operate on offense. That proved to be the case, as Korver ended up with an average of 2.8 3-pointers per match in his 35 games with the Cavs.
Unfortunately, the team’s quest for a title repeat ended with a Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, who had acquired Kevin Durant in the previous offseason.
Interestingly, Korver and Smith have plenty of other things in common, such as playing their last NBA games in the 2019-20 season and ranking in the top 20 of the all-time 3-point scoring leader board. Korver is currently fifth with 2,450 makes, while Smith is at No. 19 with 1,930.
