7:32pm: Nothing appears imminent, as the aforementioned Vardon tweet implied, but Stein and Haynes have published an article with more information about what went down and some of the underlying motives. We’ve recapped it here.
7:12pm: An article published by Haynes and Stein over at ESPN specifies that the Cavs, Nuggets and Pacers discussed Love and George leading up to last Thursday’s draft. The Nuggets, the article states, were brought in to supply Indiana with young assets.
Stein and Haynes note that while this particular discussion didn’t end in a deal, the Cavs won’t abandon their pursuit of the Pacers All-Star.
6:48pm: The clubs are said to have had discussions involving Denver on draft night, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com tweets. Vardon also adds that his source said it was “nothing serious”.
6:31pm: The Cavaliers, Pacers and Nuggets are in the midst of trade discussions involving Paul George and Kevin Love, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets. The three clubs have discussed a deal that would land George in Cleveland and Love in Denver.
Per Stein and ESPN’s Chris Haynes, the Cavs have “continued to pursue” George, something they were initially reported to be doing prior to the draft.
In one version of the potential deal, the Cavaliers could land forward Kenneth Faried, Haynes tweets.
News of the ongoing discussion comes after a week of speculation following George’s declaration that he would not be returning to the Pacers when he hits free agency next summer. When he informed Indiana president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard of his intentions, he revealed that he’d like to sign with his hometown Lakers in 2018.
Unless the Lakers make a move for him before then, however, a number of other clubs – including the Cavaliers – will eagerly look to acquire him as a one-year rental, the Celtics being a notable example that has already made an aggressive push to land him.
Cavs again hey Cleveland why don’t you
Just go with what you have. Even w/pg13
The warriors will still win!!! Probably in a
Sweep! 4-0
Wow. Your logic makes so much sense. Add a top ten player and the series gets worse?
He is in no way shape or form a top 10 player
I’d say Warriors in 6, Lebron is washed.
Washed??? He’s the best player in the world
No he’s not. He used to be in Miami not anymore, Durant,Leonard,George,Curry,Westbrook, and Davis are all better.
Lebron is the best player in the league. Has gap narrowed since his time in Miami yes but he is still the best player in the league. At 32 he just become the first player to average a triple double in an NBA finals. Also saying he doesn’t get his teammates involved is the most ludicrous thing to criticize Lebron about. Aside from Magic name one other all time great player with multiple championships and MVPs that got his teammates involved as much as Lebron does.
no he’s not
LeBron is the best all around player. if kd decided to devote 100% effort on defense he would have a chance at that but kd never cared about defense until this year’s finals. Steph is garbage at on ball defense so it’s not him, AD too injury prone, KAT maybe in a few years could rule the nba
If he’s the best all around player why can’t he get Kevin Love involved? Bet cha if Love lands somewhere else he would get back to averaging 20+. Everything has to be revolved around Lebron, thats why George would be nuts to want to go there. He’ll mess around hit thr big shots and win the Cavs the series but Lebron would get all the credit.
The Cavs need to do a better job consistently getting everyone involved but Love DID score 19 a game. The TEAM understand his value. Less knowledgeable basketball “fans” want to blast him as a scub much like they did with Bosh. As long as the team and Love understand his value and they compete/win rings then that’s what is important. Sure, Love would be a 25 per game player on any team where he’s the #1 option. But they won’t win. That’s what Love suffered thru prior to being traded to the Cavs. If asked, I’m sure Love would prefer to be a major contributor and all-star on a team that took him to 3 straight finals (first time he even made the playoffs) versus languishing his talent on a losing team.
You think Worthy, McHale, Parrish, Drexler, Pippen or Dumars care about not getting the same credit for winning titles as Bird, Magic, Jordan or Isiah Thomas? No. Real basketball fans and fellow NBA players give them the credit they deserve.
Lebrons problem is he’s not a closer.
Zero Killer instinct.
The new president should be fired already.
I like Love on Indiana, he could get back to averaging 26 and be a first option. Pacers can sign Rose.
Except the deal would put Love in Denver…not Indiana.
Even better, Jokic would get him so many looks it would be mayhem. Jokic is a TRUE playmaker unlike Lebron and a way better passer.
drugs are bad kids
Pathetic, the Warriors will still win.
Yeah, unless the Cavs ADD a top player, rather than switch Love out for someone else, they won’t beat the Warriors. Honestly, even if the lineup had Kyrie, LeBron, Love, and George, I still would be hesitant to bet against Golden State.
Its all on Lebron dude, Lebron does not need a new team he’s just not a leader, Kyrie is the leader of the Cavaliers and until Lebron does not realize that he will keep losing. Lebron does not even get the same amount of attention on defense Mike and Kobe used to because he can’t shoot.
You really know nothing at all about basketball. LBJ avgd 26/9/9 on 55% FG shooting and 36% from the 3pt line and teams don’t double team him? Really? He’s not the leader of the Cavs? Where was Kyrie before LBJ came back? A lottery team that never finished above .500.
The only legit thing regarding his leadership is that it seems that LBJ struggles to identify himself as a scorer or a passer. Sometimes he’s Magic and sometimes he’s Jordan. But when needed to be more Jordan, he fluctuates between taking all the shots vs making the right pass,
And for the record. I am more of a Cavs fan than an LBJ fan. I didn’t root for him during his Heat years.
Yea Lebron is dissapointing dude, he he should be 7-1 really. 2011 he should have won, 2015 even without Kyrie and Love he had experience over the Warriors and failed being up 2-1, 2014 he just didn’t carry his team, 2017 the same thing he just didn’t take it at KD.
Should be 7-1. His team was the underdog in 6 of his 8 final appearances, including 2016 when he won. Should he have won in 2011? Yes. He played like garbage and his team lost to an inferior team. But holy crap – to say Lebron should be 3-0 against this Warriors team or that he should’ve beaten the ’07 Spurs when the Cavs second best player was Mo friggin Williams is just dumb.
Without Kyrie and Love he led all players in scoring, rebounds and assists and took them to 6 games with Mozgov and Delavadova as his running mates. Please move away from the keyboard. You are unqualified to continue this discussion.
James and Paul
Two are strong personality and outspoken
Unlike Durant and Curry
Both get alone just fine and with good chemistry
The Banana Boat buddies would get along just fine
Both James and PG are friends off the court. Outspoken doesn’t mean contentious. James is a “player first” guy who is respected by other players since he’s the VP of the NBA Player’s Association. No one knew how Durant would gel with Curry, Thompson and Draymond until it happened. I also think you need to know the difference between a player’s public persona and how they are in the clubhouse. I’m not at all saying it’s a negative personality, but Durant’s image in the MEDIA is quite different from the days of his MVP speech. Again, not saying he’s a bad guy but he has become more vocal and at times, contentious with the media, even before the move to GS.
Also, both KBJ and George are desperate to win and I think that’ll help straighten a lot out. LBJ knows he can’t keep doing it all by himself.
Paul on Cleveland would be Lebron having to score more, Kyrie actually makes Lebron’s life a crapload easier. I would like to see Lebron become more of a scorer though, go ahead and trade Kyrie.
How is he not a scorer? Simply because he only led the league in pts per game once? Dude had 26 pts on 55% shooting last year. That’s amazing. And still averaged almost 9 assists and 9 rebounds a game. Those numbers aren’t as sexy as Westbrook though he was MUCH better than him last year. Westbrook is a volume shooter meaning he has to take 6-8 more shots per game to score what James does. 43% vs 55%. Huge difference.
Westbrook is everything Lebron needs to be to win, he should take notes from Russ.
We see how far Westbrook went this season
Dude he had no shooters, at least he left it all out on the floor. Give Russell Kevin Love alone and I guarantee you he makes a conference Final. Russ is cut out like Jordan!.
Ummmm….he had Kevin Durant…perhaps the 2nd best player in the NBA. Before that he had Durant, Harden and Ibaka. What happened then?
I would only like this trade if faried miraculously develops a 3pt shot(which would never happen).
Forget about his shot, he plays better defense then Love is way more scrappy on defense also. Love is superior but Lebron does not know how to get Love looks, he can only use him as a shooter and that is not Love’s strength.
Against the warriors you need 5 players on the floor that can stretch the floor and score. Players like TT, deandre Jordan, Dwight are going to be extinct in a few years in the league.
Thats bs, watch the Blazers destroy them with Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic next season.
LMAO blazers won’t be doing anything with those 2 vs the dubs.
Faried is a great big for the modern NBA if you can’t hit the 3. If he’s your center in the small ball lineup, your fine with him not spacing the floor as well as a 3-pt. shooter would, especially because GS doesn’t have an elite rim protector. The biggest thing Faried brings to the table against teams like GS is the ability to switch into guards. That being said, I think they can find that kind of addition without losing Love’s spacing and rebounding.
Dionis, what are you on?? Because normal people realize that will not happen
Zach Collins can play the 4 and 5 and also pass the ball and plays good defense. Nurkic can also do the same, he’s not a good a shooter as Collins is but that Blazers GM knows what he is doing, bigs will run the NBA again in a couple years.
Denver makes no sense for Kevin Love. And they shored up their 4 spot with Trey Lyles at the draft. They also have Hernangomez, Chandler, etc…they would make sense for PG if he would stay, which he wouldnt, so I don’t see that happening.
Love makes no sense for Denver? Any player looking to flourish and get looks should go to Denver to play with Jokic a true pass first center and superstar in the making. The league is coming back with the bigs(Porzingis,Jokic,Embiid,Towns,Davis)
For the record, I wish the Cavs would go after DeMarcus Cousins over George. I think where the 15-20 shots come from (inside vs outside) is just as important than who shoots them. I think Irving/James/Cousins is much more balanced than Irving/James/George. I also feel that the contrast would be the right mix to dominate the Warriors as they simply would have no answer for Boogie in the post and he is also a tremendous passer and above average shooter as a big.
George/James/Irving isn’t different enough from Curry/Thompson/Durant/Draymond in the broad sense.
I think teams are too caught up with trying to out “Warrior” the Warrior’s. The going big concept the Spurs had was brilliant with Gasol and Aldridge they just had the wrong players to execute it.
Just get Lebron Westbrook,Towns, and Davis while youre at it.
Wow….so we are just going to look past what the Warriors did right? And I’m not talking about adding a 4th star. You’re ridiculous dude.
The Warriors had their own draft picks and developed them and added a free agent piece. They did it how any other team should. My Knicks will develop KP and Ntilikina and sign Klay when he’s a free agent ;)
Ntilikina probably gonna be a bust
Doubt it.
Here’s the idiocy of why people hate on LBJ. Why is there a distinction made, not on the number of stars on a team, but how those players were acquired? Does it make a difference?
I mean, if you’re concerned about executives and how many chips they win based off of scouting and player development then ok. Otherwise, who cares how the teams are put together in terms of how great they are?
And for the record, I agree that the NBA is boring when every player wants to play for the same 4 or 5 teams but if it’s a matter of beating the super team, and when a 73 win team signs Durant that’s exactly what it is, then teams do what they have to do or they just say “screw it, I’ll wait until their reign is over”.
Get over the fact that this team drafted vs this team signed their stars. It’s stupid. In fact, if you want to be real about it. The Cavs drafted Kyrie, drafted Wiggins and Bennett and used those players to trade for Love and signed LBJ as a FA.
Only if James was willing to play with Wiggins and not Love. They would have a younger cheaper player and more picks and money to bring in younger players instead they are stuck with James Irving an underproducing Love and JR Smith at SG and Thompson at C and a bunch of old players on the bench. The Cavs could have had Wiggins and either drafted a better SG or signed one. James need to realize that young players can develop into a younger version of the player that James wants to play with.
Wiggins would be in the same situation, Lebron is the reason the Cavs lost dont let the numbers blind you.
You do realize the Cavs before LBJ have never made it to the finals since the 80s right? Literally.. I’m done..You’re either trolling or just not a knowledgeable fan.
Nah man you are just a Lebron fan.
The lack of a shooting guard is the reason the cavs lost
The Cavs sent the Wolves Wiggins and Bennett and a #1 overall to the Sixers which was the 24th overall pic. Why was it the 24th overall pic? because now the Cavs were winners.
Ask a Cavs fan and we have no problem with what they did because Love helped us go to 3 straight finals and win the only title Cleveland sports has had since the 60’s Cleveland Browns. You guys are funny.
Marlins traded Adrian Gonzalez for a rental closer in 2003, but they won the World Series, so who cares? I said at the time that it was a bad trade for Cleveland. They won. I can’t say that anymore, but that being said, I would wonder how things might have gone in years 1-3 had that trade not been made, and what the outlook would then be for them moving forward now. I’m not entirely sure they wouldn’t have potentially been better with not having traded Wiggins
I moved to Cleveland and lived there for 10 years. If you’re not part of the scene you wouldn’t get it. Trust me, there is no sellers remorse from the Wiggins for Love deal. They delivered the first chip to Cleveland from ANY of the 3 sports franchises.
In contrast, I’m also a Yankee fan. I’ve seen them when 7 rings in my life, the last five I was able to enjoy as an adult. If you told me the Yanks could’ve won a chip in 2016 if they had traded Sanchez, Judge and others to get one or two superstars then I would’ve felt it was a stupid decision. While every year we are win, win, win, the 27 chips and 5 in the last 20 years allows calmer heads to prevail.
And look, while these Cavs have only won 1 title, they were in the finals every single year and will probably continue to do so if they can keep LBJ, Irving and whoever else together.
As much as been said, the Cavs are and will be the 2nd best team in the NBA and will always have a punchers chance. Simply put, no one expected the team with the greatest won/loss record to add a Kevin Durant. Imagine if the 72 win Bulls added a Patrick Ewing or Charles Barkley in their prime? It’s mind boggling and anyone that disses the Cavs for falling short is amazingly unaware of history and where that Durant move puts the GSW.
Hard to make savvy deals when you don’t re-sign your GM.