If you followed the NBA in the 2010s, you already know who cast the biggest shadow: the Golden State Warriors. With Stephen Curry’s limitless range, Klay Thompson’s two-way brilliance, and Draymond Green’s all-around chaos, they were already terrifying. Then Kevin Durant joined them, and the league suddenly felt lopsided. Once the playoffs rolled around, they looked almost unbeatable.
The only team that even stood a chance? LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. They had the confidence boost of the 2016 Finals win, but once Durant suited up in blue and gold, even Cleveland’s best efforts fell short. As good as LeBron was, it was too much for him to handle on his own.
Here’s the part most fans don’t know: the Cavs actually came close to pulling off a move that might have rewritten everything. Tyronn Lue, their head coach at the time, recently opened up about how the team nearly landed Paul George. And not the later version of PG we’ve seen bouncing around the league—the Indiana Pacers Paul George, the one who was in his prime and considered one of the top players in basketball.
In the 2015–16 season, George was putting up 23 points and 4 assists per game. Imagine slotting that kind of production next to LeBron and Kyrie Irving. The Cavs wouldn’t just have had a strong duo—they would have rolled out a three-headed scoring monster that could match the Warriors’ firepower possession for possession.
So why didn’t it happen? Even Lue admits he doesn’t really know. “We tried to get him,” he said in an interview with Shannon Sharpe. And that was it. No inside details, no secret roadblock, just the hollow echo of an opportunity lost.
Sharpe summed it up perfectly. If George had joined LeBron and Kyrie, Cleveland would have had three guys who could score at will, create plays, and carry stretches of the game. That kind of offensive punch could have tilted the Finals in their favor. Lue, reflecting on it, could only say again: “We tried.”
It’s one of those what-if moments that makes you pause. Maybe George joins in 2016, maybe Kyrie never leaves for Boston, maybe the Cavaliers build their own dynasty in the East. Maybe LeBron James is sitting on seven rings today instead of four.
Of course, even that dream scenario doesn’t erase just how loaded those Warriors squads were. Steph, Klay, Draymond, Durant, and Andre Iguodala formed one of the greatest collections of talent ever assembled in the NBA. That’s the reality the Cavs would have faced, even with PG in wine and gold.
