After the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, the Dubs countered by adding Kevin Durant in the summer. With Durant joining the best regular-season team in the history of the NBA, the Warriors reclaimed the title from the Cavaliers in the 2017 NBA Finals.
That summer, Kyrie Irving demanded a trade from the Cavs, which ended in him going to Boston. But before Kai made that request, there were rumors that Cleveland tried to trade for Paul George in an effort to form a Big 3 with LeBron and Kyrie and combat the KD-boosted Warriors. Former Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue verified that story during his recent appearance on “Club Shay Shay.”
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“Yeah, when he was in Indiana,” Lue confirmed, and when asked by Sharpe why it did not materialize, he said: “I don’t remember….Yeah, we tried to get him. We tried.”
They disagreed over a draft pick
One week before that story came out, George had informed the Indiana Pacers that he wasn’t going to sign an extension deal and had no intention of staying in Hoosier town beyond the expiration of his existing deal. And so the Pacers shopped George around the league, and the Cavaliers were one of the serious prospects.
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According to an ESPN article, the Cavs were in serious talks to acquire PG from the Pacers in the summer of 2017, with the Denver Nuggets acting as a conduit team to facilitate the deal. However, the deal fell apart because Indiana and Cleveland could not agree on the protection of a draft pick involved in the deal.
“Here’s where the deal fell apart, league sources said: Indiana wanted no protections on a future Cavaliers first-round pick. Cleveland balked, insisting the pick have lottery protection — and Indiana moved onto the Oklahoma City package of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis,” wrote Adrian Wojnarowski.
George confirmed the story himself
Lue’s story was corroborated by George himself, who admitted the little-known story during an episode of his own “Podcast P” show. According to George, the Cavaliers were really that close to acquiring him, and he really seriously thought that he was going to play with LeBron that year.
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“Dahntay Jones was like our mediator, right? He takes me to ‘Bron’s crib, chopping it up with ‘Bron, like yo, how can we make this work? So we trying to figure it out. He going back, telling them how to get me. So I’m thinking like, okay, we might make this happen. I might be with ‘Bron over here in Cleveland. It fell through because Cleveland and Indiana are in the same division. So Indy was like ‘Well, shh, we’re not gon trade him to our division,'” said George.
Regardless of the reason, however, it’s unclear if Irving would have stayed if the Cavs got George. But they would have lost Kevin Love in that deal. So theoretically, Shannon was wrong when he said the Cavs could have formed a Big 3 because most likely, it would have only been LeBron and PG teaming up in “The Land.”
Still, that pairing would have been formidable. However, whether it would have been enough to halt Golden State’s second consecutive title in 2018 remains uncertain.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 31, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.