Love for Paul George in the offseason?

[Surferdad]

If Danny makes a trade with Indy, I will certainly have love for Paul George in the off-season.   

[TheSundanceKid]

Has anyone thought about the luxury tax implications of this deal? George is a FA in 2018, a year earlier than Love if he decides to opt out. It would add another $8m to an already huge tax bill in Cleveland. Given that there are already legitimate concerns over their ability to keep their current contracts intact over the next few years I would be very surprised if they added to their problems.

I think George allows them to move some other players.  They could for example package Thompson with Smith for a cheaper big and cut out some of that tax (as an example).

I don't think they find a better big than Thompson. They would have to simply dump JRs contract anyway to control the tax. They'd be like this year's warriors but with less depth and simply not as good.
Without the George trade they are severely limited in their options, adding him just makes it worse. I can't see it happening at all. Does he become the 3rd option?

If they did any of the trades I suggested I think any of those teams could realistically compete with the Warriors because in all of them they end up with George and James, which does two things.  First, it means Durant is going to be guarded most of the game by George, with James being able to fill in.  Second, it means Durant has to guard James or George, making him work on both ends of the floor far more than he had to in this series (when Green was on James most of the time). 

Next year they wouldn't even have a salary issue (Love makes more than George next year so they actually save money) and could role out a team of Irving, Smith, James, George, Thompson with Shumpert, Korver, Williams, Frye, Jefferson?.  That team is much better than the one they just rolled out for the reasons mentioned above and in addition with George basically being a mini-James, you would think the Cavs wouldn't crumble into a mess if James was on the bench and George was handling his role. 

Even if they felt they had to dump Thompson and Smith a year early, I don't think they lose all that much and would still have more than enough to at the very least make Golden State work for it, and I actually think Cleveland would be favored (assuming James doesn't start his decline).  Irving, Shumpert, James, George, Mozgov with Deng, Korver, Williams, Jefferson? is a better team than the one they just put on the floor.  It is at least more balanced and is much better defensively.  Or Irving, Shumpert, James, George, Zeller with Belinelli, Korver, Williams, Frye, Jefferson? same thing.  Or Irving, Shumpert, James, George, Noah with O'Quinn, Korver, Williams, Frye, Jefferson? same thing.  Or countless other options they could explore if they really wanted to move Thompson.  I mean maybe Minnesota thinks Thompson is a better fit than Dieng.  Dieng gives them most of what Thompson does at a few million cheaper (which is way more with the tax).  So maybe you do Thompson and Smith for Dieng and Rubio with Rubio filling the Delly role they badly missed.

Yeah you make some valid points there. I suppose they will face salary issues either way so may as well go with what gives you the best chance in the short term. I still think GS would be the favourites over the next two years in that scenario but you're right they do match up better.

[Jvalin]

If Danny makes a trade with Indy, I will certainly have love for Paul George in the off-season.   

If Danny makes a trade with Indy, I'd rather have Myles Turner. No interest in George unless

1. he signs an extension
2. we keep Brown + Nets 2017 + Nets 2018