Cavs should refuse to trade at deadline with the Golden State Warriors

The Cleveland Cavaliers are most definitely going to be sellers when it comes to the NBA Trade Deadline this season. However, they should refuse any trade offers sent their way by the Golden State Warriors. It’s only right after all they’ve been through with the Bay Area squad.

Heated regular-season battles. Four NBA Finals against each other. The recruitment of Kevin Durant to what has now become the league’s most-dangerous superteam yet.

Yes, it’s safe to say the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors have been through a lot with each other.

The two squads made history over the course of the past four campaigns, meeting in June each of the past four years for a Finals clash. While the Warriors snagged three of the four championships, largely in part to Durant joining up with them, it’s indisputable that the rivalry the two sides had was riveting and pretty personal.

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Sure, the rivalry on the court may be dead now. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, the two main stars for the Cavaliers during that span, are with different ballclubs now. As a result, Cleveland has just three more wins than Golden State has losses.

It’s now become a tale of two different paths and the Cavaliers are on the tumultuous and dark path that doesn’t always provide light at the end of it. However, that doesn’t mean that the Wine and Gold should just forgive the Warriors for the past and become buddy-buddy with them.

In fact, they should refuse to deal with them when it comes to any trade that may benefit Golden State.

It’s petty, childish, whatever you want to call it. But it’s life in the NBA, where the petty wars are at an all-time high and no one truly minds it. Guys like Joel Embiid have thrived in this new environment, trolling to the highest level on social media after wins and even losses. Jimmy Butler’s whole Minnesota exit was a debacle chronicled over different tweets and subliminal messages, including Andrew Wiggins’ brother getting involved with wishing Butler good riddance from the Timberwolves.

So why should the Cavaliers play nicely? Because they’re the lovable losers once again? Wrong.

It’s clear that Golden State hasn’t let up on their end when it comes to dealing with Cleveland, anyways. Just over a month ago, the Cavaliers reportedly signed restricted free-agent Patrick McCaw to a two-year deal. McCaw had played three seasons with Golden State and was touted as being a strong bench piece for the superstar-laden team. The Warriors could’ve matched the offer without much of an issue and brought McCaw back into the fold, as they had been seemingly hoping to. However, they decided to let McCaw walk after failing to match the offer the Cavaliers placed on the table.

The Cavaliers released McCaw just over a week after signing him and all hell broke loose.

Accusations emerged that the Cavaliers had purposely signed McCaw so that he could be freed from his restricted free-agency rights. Once they released the two-time NBA champion, he was able to sign with whomever he’d want to sign with, now being an unrestricted free agent. Golden State believed there was something fishy with the way it all went down and requested an investigation be held involving McCaw and the Cavaliers.

An investigation of an ordeal that was later proven to be an error-free process could’ve been avoided, to begin with. If the Warriors wanted McCaw to rejoin them this season, why not offer him a stronger deal? And maybe that wouldn’t have even gotten the job done due to the fact McCaw had turned down a previous offer sent his way from the Bay. He didn’t want to be there.

So why again was it such a big deal that the Cavaliers signed him and released him just a little bit after? They’ve done this countless times this year, signing multiple players to 10-day contracts and two-way deals to test the waters and see what’s out there in terms of talent. Maybe, just maybe, McCaw didn’t fit with their organizational plan. Crazy to think, I know.

But for a team that has done its fair share of head-shaking moves, trying to be the moral compass of the league surely isn’t the way to go.

The report from AmicoHoops.net’s Sam Amico regarding the Warriors’ interest in Rodney Hood should mean absolutely nothing to the Cavaliers. It shouldn’t even register with them, given all of the history the two sides have garnered in such a short amount of time. When it comes to anyone on the roster, don’t even entertain the idea of sending them to Golden State.

In short, don’t feed the beast that conquered your village. There are 28 other teams in the NBA, some already with interest in Hood and others. Go that route instead.