Pacers discussing three-team deal with Cavaliers and Nuggets
Per Marc Stein, the Pacers are in talks with the Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets for a deal that would send Paul George to Cleveland and Kevin Love to Denver.
The Paul George rumors continue, thanks to ESPN’s Marc Stein.
League sources: Cavs, Pacers and Nuggets have discussed a three-way deal that would land Paul George in Cleveland and Kevin Love in Denver
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 25, 2017
This has been Pacers fans biggest problem with a potential Cavaliers trade: Kevin Love in a Pacers uniform wouldn’t help a rebuild. It would just keep Indiana on the mediocrity treadmill, not good enough for any playoff success, not bad enough to get a good draft pick.
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Adding in the Denver Nuggets changes things. They have more young prospects than they know what to do with, and they recently flipped their pick in this year’s draft into two players in Trey Lyles and Tyler Lydon. Consolidating their young guys into a single star would certainly behoove them.
For the Pacers, this deal makes a lot of sense. I’m sure Kevin Pritchard would be thrilled to have guys like Jamal Murray, Gary Harris or Juancho Hernangomez as part of their young core. Even Emmanuel Mudiay might still be worth a flyer.
Trading George for some combination of draft picks and Denver young guys would be a great way to start rebuilding around Myles Turner, and should the team do so, they’d be bad enough that their own draft picks would become pretty dang valuable as well.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers would get a year to convince George that Cleveland is the place for him. I’m not sure if such convincing would be really possible, though. Cleveland’s owner Dan Gilbert let David Griffin walk away a week before the draft, and newly minted Minnesota Timberwolf Jimmy Butler was reportedly warned about joining the Cavalier ranks due to internal strife. Who’s to say George wouldn’t be warned of the same?
Next: Lance Stephenson gets his old number back
We don’t know how real or serious these trade talks are, but this would be a great outcome if they are real. We’ll keep you posted. Stay tuned.