NBA veteran reporter Vinhorst recently broke the news that James originally almost joined forces with George when he played for the Cavaliers for the second time, but because he was unwilling to renew his contract with the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers owner chose to use Irving to exchange chips such as draft picks.
"Gilbert [the Cavaliers owner] meant at the time' that 'we're going to try to trade Paul George, we're going to trade Carrey (Irving) for some [valuable players], but you have to renew the contract'. James means 'I'm not going to renew my contract'. After that, Gilbert's meaning became, 'Okay, I'll trade some draft picks, and we all know that then there's a deal where Irving trades Thomas Jr., Claude, and other chips.' Wenhorst said.
In July 2017, Irving forced the Palace Cavaliers to trade himself, after which he was traded to the Celtics in exchange for Thomas Jr., Crowder, Žižić and the Nets' 2018 first-round picks. Later, the Celtics gave the Cavaliers a second-round pick to make up for Thomas Jr.'s failed physical examination.
Prior to that, the Cavaliers had tried a few trades. In addition to George, they also had a scandal with Butler. However, since the Bulls traded Butler at the end of June, and Irving only officially forced the Palace Cavaliers to trade themselves in July, the slow-paced Cavaliers only pursued George for a while. But because James wasn't going to give a contract extension promise, the Cavaliers switched to trading Irving to the Celtics, who was also in the final year of the contract and could jump out of the contract option in the summer of 2018.
If James and George had teamed up with the Cavaliers at the time, the pair might still be able to do a lot, and could better compete against durant and Curry's Warriors super-giant combination in the Finals.
But with the failure of the joint team, the combination of James and George, which has been passed many times in the past, has no chance to join forces again. With George later switching to the Clippers and becoming James' nemesis with the Lakers, the super-pairing can only survive in the imagination of fans.