Sorry Warriors, The NBA Concluded That The Cavs Did Not Cheat When It Came To Patrick McCaw Despite Them Definitely Cheating
About a week ago I blogged about how the Golden State Warriors were a little butthurt that the Cavs essentially stole Patrick McCaw from them only to see the team immediately cut him so he could finally be free to sign wherever he wanted. A quick recap for anyone who maybe missed that blog. Essentially, McCaw was a RFA as he and the team could not agree to a longterm extension. He then wanted to hit the open market to go somewhere else, the Warriors said no, and he sat out the first few months of the season. Enter Dan Gilbert and the Cavs. Unable to beat them on the actual court, the Cavs were able to put the Warriors balls in a vice and offered McCaw a contract offer that they knew GS would not be able to match given their cap space and the money they need this summer. At the time it made sense, CLE certainly could have used wing depth and McCaw is young enough why not take a look to see if there’s anything there worth keeping long term. In that regard, there’s nothing fishy about the move.
But, those same Cavs, with those same roster needs just a week later, cut McCaw. This finally allowed him to enter the market and sign wherever he wanted, and it wasn’t long before he found a new home with the Raptors. Immediately the Warriors threw a temper tantrum and demanded the league look into this shady action. Had they been found guilty it would have come with a MASSIVE penalty, like lose a first round pick in 2019 massive. You know, the same draft that has Zion, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish etc. As a team slated to finish in the top 3, that would have been a devastating blow to the Cavs and really the entire landscape of the league.
Now that the league “wink wink” found no wrong doing I can’t help but laugh. There is zero chance CLE really wanted McCaw and 100% probability they simply wanted to mess with GS. They knew this would be extremely hard for the league to prove which is why I love this story so much. It’s almost as if the Cavs braintrust put more effort into this move than building their own roster. Props to them and Dan Gilbert for not being dumb and leaving a paper trail because there is no doubt in my mind this was all intentional. At the end of the day Patrick McCaw doesn’t make or break the Warriors so I don’t even get why they were so upset in the first place, sometimes you have to just tip your cap and admit when you’ve been outsmarted.
Between this and some of the actual savvy moves the CLE front office has made this season in terms of trades, I almost can’t believe they’ve been operating like a smart franchise. We know the league probably will rig the lottery for Gilbert just like they have 3 times already, and suddenly the rebuild may not look so bad for a team forced to completely start over.
Plus, the Warriors win everything anyway, it’s nice to see them on the other end of it for once. Bravo Cavs, bravo.