Cleveland Cavaliers Trade Rumors: Paul George Or Jimmy Butler Could Join LeBron, Kyrie

The Cleveland Cavaliers are only a week removed from playing in the NBA Finals, but the organization is already making a big push to put together a roster that can compete with the Golden State Warriors. The team has been working on potential deals with the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls to acquire either Paul George or Jimmy Butler.

With the 2017 NBA Draft set for Thursday night, George and Butler have been at the center of multiple trade rumors in the last few days. Much of the focus has been on Cleveland, who is reportedly willing to part with Kevin Love in order to put a championship contender around LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

READ: Boston Celtics In Position To Trade For Jimmy Butler

Getting a trade done with either team presents its own set of challenges. Cleveland doesn’t own a first-round pick in this year’s draft or 2019, and Love is their only asset that would return them anything of real value. ESPN reported that the Cavs are trying to involve other teams in multi-team trade scenarios with the Bulls, and a third team might be needed in order to complete a deal with the Pacers.

Cleveland has a lot to consider when trying to make a trade. After being handled pretty easily by Golden State in a five-game series, it’s pretty clear that the 2017 version of the Cavs can’t defeat a healthy Warriors team with Kevin Durant. Cleveland is in the precarious position of trying to improve in the short term without mortgaging their future.

The free agency of James in 2018 is the looming cloud that is hanging above the entire organization. If the Cavs don’t give the world’s best basketball player a chance to win another title, he could bolt for another team, as he did in 2010. The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are increasingly looking like real options for the fourth act of James’ career.

That’s what makes the idea of trading for George such a risk. Indiana is shopping George because he told the Pacers that he doesn’t intend to re-sign with the team when his contract is up next summer, and the small forward is reportedly eying the Lakers as his next destination. If Cleveland swaps Love, who is under contract for three more seasons, for George, the Cavs could potentially lose two-thirds of their “Big 3”​ in one offseason.

Butler, on the other hand, is under contract for two more seasons, making him a safer bet for the Cavs. If Cleveland makes a trade with Chicago and James leaves in a year, all hope won’t be lost for the Cavs’ next few seasons, as was the case seven years ago. Butler and Irving would still give Cleveland one of the NBA’s best tandems, and they’d have two of the league’s top players that are less than 30 years old.

It might be hard to decide definitively whether Butler or George is the better basketball player. Both are arguably top-10 stars in the league, though some numbers suggest that Butler has the slight edge.

Butler was the much more efficient scorer last season, averaging 23.9 points on 16.5 shots per game, while George posted 23.7 points on an average of 18.0 field goal attempts. The taller George grabbed a few more rebounds (6.6rpg to 6.2rpg), but Butler had more assists (5.5apg to 3.3apg).

The advanced metrics certainly seemed to favor Butler in the 2016-2017 season. His real plus-minus of 6.62 was good for seventh in the NBA, while George came in at 37th with an RPM of 2.58. Butler was 14th in the league with a PER of 25.19, and George’s PER of 20.3 wasn’t good enough to crack the top 40.

But even if Butler is the better player, he probably isn’t nearly as good of a fit for the Cavs. His 36.7 percent shooting from three-point range is respectable, though he averaged just 3.3 shots from behind the arc per game. Cleveland shoots more three-pointers than anyone in the Eastern Conference, and they are led by ball-dominant players in James and Irving. Adding another one in Butler might not give the Cavs’ offense the same boost that some might think.

George is Indiana’s leading scorer, though he might fit in seamlessly as Cleveland’s third-scoring option. He made 39.3 percent of the 6.6 three-pointers he shot per game, and George would probably be an even more effective three-pointer shooter with the open looks that he’d get in Cleveland.

Most importantly, George is a better fit because of his ability to guard Durant. No one in the NBA can effectively stop Durant, but George can defend him better than most players in the league. Butler is a terrific defender, as well, but he’s two inches shorter than George and wouldn’t be able to have the same success.

READ: Andre Iguodala Reportedly Considering Leaving Warriors

Golden State’s addition of Durant in 2016 is ultimately the reason why Cleveland is trying to making a move. The Cavaliers were good enough to defeat the 73-win Warriors led by just Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, but Golden State reached another level by acquiring the NBA’s second-best player.

After three straight meetings in the NBA Finals, it’s time for Cleveland to counter with a major acquisition of their own.