INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- The Cavaliers and Kings are further apart on a trade for George Hill than it first appeared, sources told cleveland.com, with significant hurdles toward a potential deal remaining.

One source told cleveland.com that the two sides were speaking "conceptually" about Hill and were never close; another said the Cavs sought to change the parameters of a potential trade.

Conceptually, at least, the Cavs would get Hill from the Kings and send Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert to Sacramento. Derrick Rose could also have been involved and perhaps a future second-round draft pick.

The teams have until the Feb. 8 trade deadline to get something done. The Kings want to move on from Hill, so if a trade can't be completed there is also the possibility of a buyout.

Hill is 31 and averaging 10.3 points and shooting .448 from 3-point range this season. He plays for a bad team (someone has to score) and has been replaced in the starting lineup by rookie De'Aaron Fox, which is fast considering Sacramento just signed Hill to a three-year, $57 million deal last summer.

Defensively, Hill is the ninth-worst defender in the NBA this year among players who've played at least 20 games (the Kings give up 113.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the court). And, for now, anyway, the Kings are actually worse defensively than the Cavs.

Cleveland's deep thinkers believe that Hill will nonetheless help as a guard who can play either spot, score, and defend. The Cavs aren't getting any defense from Isaiah Thomas (118.7 defensive rating in eight games) and not much at all from J.R. Smith (112.6 defensive rating, 7.4 points per game on offense).

Also, a league source told cleveland.com that Hill may still be dealing with a sore toe that nagged him last season and forced him out of three playoff games when he was with Utah against Golden State in May.