To the surprise of many NBA, basketball and more specifically, Cleveland Cavalier fans around the world, the Cavaliers and David Griffin parted ways on Monday night. This was just hours after the general manager was reportedly 'elbow deep' in negotiating a trade for Chicago Bulls small forward, Jimmy Butler. The Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and the 3-year Cavs GM decided to stop working with each other and move on as they both did not feel the current situation was good for either of them. The Cavaliers will now look to hire a new general manager in the next few days so they can get back to business in relation to offseason roster changes, and former NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups seems to be the leading candidate for the position.
As fans, we are still left shocked and confused about this situation, and why it happened. There hasn't been any huge news about David Griffin that would've forced him to make a conscious decision to leave the 2016 NBA champions, but a large sum of money offered from another team could've been a lure point. It's reported during the regular season that the Orlando Magic were ready to offer David Griffin a manager position on their team for a large amount of money. So it's not secret that teams around the league have seen what Griffin has been able to do with Cleveland, and would love to see him work for them also.
LeBron James is not happy
One person LeBron James had a lot of respect and dignity for in the Cleveland Cavaliers staff was the general manager, David Griffin.
James always spoke very highly of him and put his trust in Griff to bring in appropriate players to compliment his game and allow the Cavaliers to work the best as a unit. It's reported that King James did not get contacted about the departure of David Griffin, instead, it just happened and was out of LeBron's control. This has left LeBron James 'disappointed' and 'concerned' about the Cavaliers future without their genius GM, as shown in a recent tweet the 'Kid From Akron' published.
LeBron James is the 'king' of subtweeting, as shown once again in this tweet. A lot of speculation has been brought about because of the "We got us 1" statement in the tweet, especially considering all the media headlines about LeBron moving to a different team after next season. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.
If no one appreciated you Griff I did, and hopefully all the people of Cleveland! Thanks for what u did for the team for 3 yrs! We got us 1🏆
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 20, 2017
New GM could mean huge changes
David Griffin was very strict about his roster changes throughout his time as the Cavaliers GM, although he did make a fair few. He brought in a lot of key role players to help the big three but made sure to not jump at any trades involving LeBron James, Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love.
Griff was offered some big trades before the deadline, involving all-star power forward, Kevin Love. But David did not pull the trigger on any of the trades, even a trade which would've sent Carmelo Anthony to the Cavs in exchange for Love.
Griffin was adamant about keeping Cleveland's big three in check. But with reports circling that Chauncey Billups might be the next Cavs GM, all this could change. Earlier this season on TV, Billups stated that he would've agreed to the Melo for Love trade that the Knicks offered if he was in Griff's shoes. He also has shared a few opinions about trading Kyrie Irving for another all-star and believing it could be a good move.
So if Chauncey does indeed become the new general manager for Cleveland, expect some changes, and there might even be some huge ones. The big three of James, Love, and Irving may be no more.
