In wake of Kyrie Irving‘s trade request, there have been many details to emerge about how the potential deal for Paul George unraveled last month.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the reason for talks falling apart between both teams came down to the protection of the first-round pick.
Here’s where the deal fell apart, league sources said: Indiana wanted no protections on a future Cavaliers first-round pick. Cleveland balked, insisting the pick have lottery protection — and Indiana moved onto the Oklahoma City package of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
If this is indeed the case, the Cleveland Cavaliers may have missed out on landing George for one request. It also shows some insight as what the organization sees lies ahead of them beyond this upcoming season.
There is some uncertainty surrounding LeBron James‘ future beyond next year as he holds a player option for the 2018-19 campaign. They may have also been unwilling to agree to that stipulation given that George could also leave the team in free agency next July as well.
It simply came down to how much the Cavaliers were willing to give up, and the Pacers chose to quickly go another route instead. This decision could indubitably have a ripple effect for the franchise beyond next season.