The Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s gain—in a big way.
During an interview with SiriusXM, Carmelo Anthony revealed that both himself and Paul George were almost traded to the Cavaliers on draft night. Here’s ESPN.com’s Ian Begley with the details:
Carmelo Anthony said in a SiriusXM interview that there was a trade in place on the night of the NBA Draft that would have sent both he and Paul George to Cleveland: “Me and PG have a very close friendship. Actually, it was funny because me and PG was supposed to be in Cleveland on draft night. we were communicating about that. The deal was actually done and it got called off on draft night, so me and PG stayed connected throughout the course of the season.”
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, went from acquiring George and Melo, to trading Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 pick, and then signing Wade. Assuming Irving wasn’t involved in the George-Melo coup, it’d be interesting to see whether he would still want out of Cleveland. The guess here is yes, since he would, in theory, be buried behind even more star power.
The real missed opportunity here? Seeing three of the four banana boat buddies on the same team. Once Melo joined LeBron James in Cleveland, it would have been only a matter of time before Wade brokered a buyout with the Chicago Bulls and ended up right where he is now.
Sigh.
Fortunately for us hoops heads, both the Thunder and Cavs should be super fun to watch, so we still come out on top.
