Prior to last week’s NBA Draft, Cleveland, Indiana and Denver reportedly engaged in talks centered around a potential three-team trade involving Paul George.
The negotations, which may or not have been serious, would have seen Kevin Love end up with the Nuggets.
Link to the latest co-scribed w/ @ChrisBHaynes on Cavs' pursuit of Paul George … and possibly Carmelo Anthony –> https://t.co/0Xwm1W6nbz
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 26, 2017
Reportedly, the Cavs would also be “leading contenders” for Carmelo Anthony‘s services should he extricate himself from New York.
Per ESPN:
The Nuggets were recruited into the talks to furnish the Pacers with the combination of promising young players and draft picks that they are seeking before consenting to surrender George, whose agent, Aaron Mintz, informed Indiana management just over a week ago that George has no intention of staying with the club beyond the expiration of his current contract in June 2018.
The three teams could not agree to a final trade construction in time to complete a deal on draft night Thursday, but sources say the Cavaliers won’t abandon their trade pursuit of George, believing that acquiring the 27-year-old and George’s potentially winning a championship next season alongside LeBron James is the one scenario that could convince the two-way menace to abandon his well-chronicled desire to join the Los Angeles Lakers as soon as possible.
The Lakers, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs are among the teams, sources say, that also pursued George trades aggressively in conjunction with the draft.
