Columnist: When the Cavaliers wanted to trade Love for George, the Pacers were afraid that James would regret staying with the Cavaliers for a long time.

NBA columnist Yaron Weitzman recently released a new book "Hollywood Ending: LeBron's Dreams and Struggles with the Lakers", which broke the news that George almost joined the Cavaliers and teamed up with James during the 2017 offseason. Excerpts from the article are as follows:

As soon as the 2017 Finals ended, LeBron held a player meeting with several Cavaliers players in the hotel. They know that they need to introduce superstars to compete with the Warriors with Curry and Durant, and their target is precisely: Pacers star Paul George.

At that time, the league knew that the Pacers were willing to trade the forward superstar. Cavaliers guard Dengtae Jones took the initiative to contact George, which facilitated the latter's confidential talks at LeBron's Brentwood private residence. LeBron's recruitment was a great success, George was ready to go to Cleveland, and there was even a three-way trade plan in place:

The Cavaliers received: Paul George

The Nuggets received: Kevin Love

The Pacers received: Gary Harris and draft picks

The only reason the deal fell through? Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard believes that sending George to Cleveland will trigger a chain reaction: LeBron is likely to stay with the Cavaliers for a long time. At that time, LeBron had reached the Finals for seven consecutive years, and the Pacers were determined to expel him from the Eastern Conference. So at the last moment, they gave up the deal with the Cavaliers.

In the end, Indiana sent George to the Thunder, Irving requested a trade that summer, and LeBron also left for Los Angeles in 2018. But what if that deal went through?

"If (the Cavaliers) had acquired George, LeBron might never have left." A source close to LeBron revealed.