You work all summer, you work all season for so many years in a row hoping to get to this point. It’s really special. – Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kyle Korver on reaching the NBA Finals
SALT LAKE CITY — While Ian Clark went from hardly playing for Utah to being a key reserve for the Golden State Warriors, three other former Jazzmen in this year's NBA Finals were all main players when they played for the Jazz and are now coming off the bench as important contributors for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Deron Williams and Richard Jefferson were starters when they played for the Jazz, while Kyle Korver had the sixth-man role while in Utah, averaging more than 20 minutes per game for three seasons.
Williams started 406 games over seven seasons, including a couple of All-Star years, Korver started a couple of times in the 180 games he played from 2007-10, while Jefferson played in all 82 games in 2013-14, starting 78 games and averaging 10.1 points per game.
Jefferson, a 16-year veteran who will turn 37 this month, went to Dallas for a season then was signed by Cleveland, averaging 5.5 points in 74 games. This year he played in 79 games and upped his average slightly to 5.7 ppg.
This year, each averaged at least 20 minutes a game, led by Korver’s 24.5 mpg. Korver was fourth on the team in scoring at 10.7, while Williams contributed 7.5 in his 24 regular-season games.
Of the three, only Jefferson has earned an NBA ring, which he got last year with the Cavs. Williams, who turns 33 later this month, and Korver, 36, will be making their first NBA Finals appearances.
“It’s amazing. Especially since this is year 14 for me, for this to happen now, it means so much,” Korver told the Akron Beacon Journal. “You work all summer, you work all season for so many years in a row hoping to get to this point. It’s really special.”
“It means a lot. It’s one of those things where you don’t know if it’s ever going to happen and don’t know if it’s going to happen again,” added Williams. “I just want to make the most of this opportunity, enjoy it, soak it in and try to win a ring.”
Williams and Korver spent three seasons together in Utah from 2007-10, making the conference semifinals twice and losing in the first round once.
“We were talking about that out there,” Korver said. “Who would have thought however many years ago (when) we were playing in Utah that we would be in the other conference, playing with LeBron and going to the Finals together? You never know what life is going to bring.”