The Cavaliers nearly landed Paul George in a three-team deal in late June, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst.
The trade would have sent Kevin Love to Denver and Gary Harris and other assets to Indiana, but Pacers president Kevin Pritchard reportedly backed out before everything was finalized.
Prior to the draft, Cleveland made trade offers to the Pacers for George and to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler. Once the Wolves acquired Butler on draft night, the Cavs stepped up their efforts for George, with the Nuggets agreeing to send Harris and the No. 13 pick to Cleveland, which would include those assets in a deal with Indiana. However, the Pacers put the trade on hold as they talked to the Trail Blazers about a deal to acquire all three of Portland’s first-rounders in exchange for George. Both proposals eventually fell through.
The Cavs continued to work on the trade following the draft, and an agreement was reached on June 30th. All three teams tentatively okayed to the deal on a conference call, and Cleveland began targeting free agents to fit with George. However, Pritchard changed his mind and the news broke soon after that George was headed to Oklahoma City.
The failed trade was part of a tumultuous offseason for the Cavaliers, as the ESPN authors examine in a lengthy piece. Cleveland also parted ways with GM David Griffin and was unable to land Chauncey Billups, who interviewed twice as a potential replacement. The team missed out on marquee free agents and had to settle for Jose Calderon and Jeff Green. Then star guard Kyrie Irving held a meeting with owner Dan Gilbert on July 7th where he issued a request to be traded.
Irving was reportedly angry that his name had been included in offers for Butler and George, and has been unhappy for some time with how much James dominates the ball. He also believes the team defers too much to James, noting that LeBron’s friend, Randy Mims, was given a position as executive administrator and flies on the team plane, while none of Irving’s friends has a similar arrangement.
The front office and the players have been aware of Irving’s intentions for two weeks, and there is confidence in the organization that the team can get enough assets for Irving to remain a contender. The Cavs have been inundated with calls from interested teams since the story broke on Friday.
The fact that Harris and 13 was on the table makes Pritchard look bad even if he was set on getting George out of the east. Dipo and Sabonis is so much worse. I’d rather have them than what was likely all 3 of Portland’s first and Evan Turner to match salaries. That wouldn’t have been as good. So even if you don’t believe Boston had a firm offer on the table you now know they had one that was better than what was accepted.
I couldn’t agree more. Even if Harris’ new contract ends up being similar to Oladipo’s, they would get him for an extra year and the 13th pick ended up being Mitchell who could wind up being a starting caliber guard. If I were Indiana, I also would have preferred the 3 Portland picks and Allen Crabbe over the deal they ended up with
So basically Indy got fleeced anyway…
call me nuts, but I like the 2 guys the pacers got. they could have gone for draft picks, but how likely would they have been better than the 2 solid young guys they got
Nothing wrong with them but Harris is better and cheaper for now than Dipo. They would’ve retained flexibility for a splash in FA this year and would’ve survived without one, and they could’ve grabbed someone like Adebayo at 13 who has more potential than Sabonis. That would’ve been a better return.
Mind your own biz sox fan. We got 3 players…sabonis, dipo TJ Leaf because we kept the pik. Dipo is IU kid and will sell seats. We are good. Go Pacers!
Clarckson/Randle + 2 picks were way better than what pacers ended up with. Indy was so stubborn to get him out to the east and not trade him to the lakers they got a weak return
Crazy IU fans…Harris is an “actual” local kid who grew up in Fishers and will sell seats because he is better than victor
How can you be crediting the TJ Leaf pick to trading George? Believe it or not you can have multiple first rounders. Harris is better and cheaper than Dipo, and being a local guy doesn’t increase his trade value…
Harris is also injury prone, and will be a FA next year. Oladipo can still be better. He had a good season last year for someone that needs the ball in his hands and played next to Westbrook. I personally believe he was the best player they could have got back in any of these offers, which is a reasonable reason to take that deal over other ones with better value b/c of more assets
Well I think a lot of people mostly just have a problem with Oladipo’s contract and think that it is excessive and that money could be better spent. But I agree with you. These players are both at least slightly established while draft picks can sometimes be a crapshoot. Not as much in basketball but they are still no sure thing
LeBron dominates the ball? Ok kyrie