This offseason hasn't gone really well for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they failed to sign a big-name free agent. The Cavaliers were supposed to close the gap with the Golden State Warriors, but it seems that the separation between these two teams is bigger than ever.
Not only did the Cavaliers fail to sign a superstar or someone who'd make a big impact on the team, but they also buried themselves in luxury tax bill. Because of all those huge contracts they have, the Cavaliers will have to spend more than $200 million on salaries and tax next season.
While the situation looks really bad for Cleveland right now, recent reports indicate that they were very close to acquiring Paul George and Jimmy Butler. However, George ended up joining the Oklahoma City Thunder while Butler took his talents to Minnesota.
George and Butler were close to joining the Cavs
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski recently reported that the Indiana Pacers were very close to trading their best player to the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to him, they were about to give Paul George permission to get on the phone with Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert.
However, the Pacers backed out of it and they decided to send George to the Thunder instead. In exchange for him, Indiana received Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
It seems that the Pacers didn't want to trade their superstar to the best team in their conference, so they chose to send him to the West.
Jimmy Butler was another big-name player that was reportedly very close to joining the Cavaliers. Apparently, Cleveland was very close to acquiring Butler on the same day when the Cavaliers parted ways with David Griffin, their general manager.
After this, things went downhill and it was reported that some Cavaliers players told Butler not to join the team as the situation is not very good.
At the end, the superstar was traded to the Timberwolves as the Chicago Bulls received Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the seventh pick in the 2017 NBA draft for him.
Can the Cavaliers still get a superstar?
Even though they failed to acquire George and Butler, the Cavaliers could still save their offseason by trading for Carmelo Anthony. New York Knicks have paused trade talks with other teams, but Anthony isn't willing to stay after they attempted to trade him so many times.
If Cleveland ends up trading for Anthony while retaining their most valuable players, they will definitely be a much better team next season. However, the clock is ticking, so they will have to make a move soon.
