The Cleveland Cavaliers need help to beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, that much is clear.
And while the Cavs reportedly tried to acquire Paul George from the Indiana Pacers this offseason, it appears that LeBron James might be the reason the deal wasn’t completed.
FOX Sports 1’s Chris Broussard reported Friday on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” that the Cavs were ready to pull the trigger on a deal that would send Kyrie Irving to the Phoenix Suns, the Suns’ first-round draft pick to the Pacers and Eric Bledsoe and George to Cleveland. All that was left was for James to commit to staying with the Cavs long term.
“Dan Gilbert goes to LeBron and says, ‘Look, we’ve got this deal on the table. I’ll do it if you commit long term to stay in Cleveland,” Broussard said. “LeBron won’t commit. Now you can read into that if you want that he would leave, or he just wants to keep his option open. But he would not commit so Dan Gilbert would not do the deal.”
James has the option to opt out of his contract at the end of next season, and rumors of his potential exit from Cleveland in 2018 have swirled all summer with the Los Angeles Lakers being the focal point. And it recently was reported that this season will “100 percent” be James’ last season with the Cavs.
George, of course, ended up being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and will be a free agent after the 2017-18 season with the Lakers reportedly being his preferred destination.
So, it’s possible that James and George could both be on the Purple and Gold come 2018, that is if the Lakers aren’t found guilty of tampering with the former Pacers star.
Thumbnail photo via Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports Images
