What's Next For The Cleveland Cavaliers? Paul George, Carmelo Anthony Trade Rumors Will Heat Up

Even with the best player in the world, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have enough to beat the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals. LeBron James put up averages of 33.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10 assists on 56.4 percent shooting, and the defending champs fell well short of winning a second straight title.

What’s next for the Cavs heading into the draft and the 2017-2018 season? Trade rumors are almost certain to follow Cleveland with speculation that the team might try to acquire another star player like Paul George or Carmelo Anthony. Making any type of move would likely involve Kevin Love going elsewhere as the organization looks to put together a roster than can compete with Golden State.

READ: Warriors Are Heavy Betting Favorites To Win 2018 NBA Finals

The trio of James, Love and Kyrie Irving has reached the NBA Finals in three straight seasons, even winning a championship against the team that set a record with 73 regular-season wins. Adding Kevin Durant has made the Warriors just about unstoppable, and arguably the greatest collection of NBA players ever assembled could dominate the league for the next few years.

“As far as that team, they’re going to be here for a while,” James said in his Game 5 post-game press conference. “They’re going to be around for a while. Pretty much all their guys are in their 20s. Pretty much all their big-name guys are in their 20s, and they don’t show any signs of slowing down.

“So there’s going to be a lot of teams that’s trying to figure out ways to put personnel together to try to match that if they’re able to actually face them in the playoff series, both Eastern Conference and Western Conference. From my eyes, they’re built to last a few years.”

For many fans, George is the first name that comes to mind when considering who the Cavaliers could acquire that would give them a shot against the Warriors. His name was even trending on Twitter shortly after Golden State clinched the title as social media wondered if Cleveland could land him in the offseason.

The Indiana Pacers' star might give the Cavs their best chance at winning the 2018 NBA Finals. An All-Star that makes nearly 40 percent of his threes and can play elite defense, George could guard Durant in a potential fourth straight matchup between Cleveland and Golden State.

Indiana isn’t openly shopping George at the moment, but it might only be a matter of time before the Pacers come to grips with the fact that they have to trade their best player. He’s going to be a free agent in 2018, and the team had discussions about moving him at February's deadline. Getting Love in return for George would be better than losing him for nothing.

Getting a trade done, however, is much easier said than done. If the Pacers do commit to dealing George, they would probably prefer to do so to a team like the Boston Celtics that can offer them a high first-round draft pick, something Cleveland can’t do. From the Cavs’ standpoint, they might be hesitant to trade Love for a player that has just one year left on his contract and reportedly has eyes on signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

A Love-for-Anthony swap is more likely than a deal with Indiana. The New York Knicks are openly trying to trade Anthony, and there have been rumors since last season that James has been pushing Cleveland to acquire the star forward.

James has denied those reports, and adding Anthony might not get the Cavs any closer to beating the Warriors. Because he’s a better rebounder and arguably a better defender, Love might even be a better overall player than Anthony.

As much as Cleveland would like to make a major addition, the truth is that they’ll probably have to go to war with the same core of players next year. Unless they want to trade Irving, which almost certainly won’t happen, the Cavs have few assets to move in a trade. With James, Irving, Love, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith all under contract, they have no flexibility to sign a big free agent.

The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski said he would be “shocked” if the Cavaliers broke up their “Big 3” or this offseason. The best Cleveland can probably hope for is that an impactful player takes less money to sign for the veteran minimum at close to $2 million, improving their bench.

READ: 2017 NBA Finals Fuel LeBron James To Los Angeles Rumors

With James having the option to become a free agent in 2018, Cleveland will do all they can to make sure he has the best possible team around him. But they can only do so much with the way the team is currently constructed.

“I’m not the GM of the team,” James said Monday night. “I’m not in the front office, but I know our front office is going to continue to try to put our ballclub, put our franchise in a position where we can compete for a championship year in and year out.”