i applaud the attempt. i didnt think this could even be a thing.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2017/06/08/cleveland-cavaliers-detroit-pistons-ownership-swap/380943001/

The Cleveland Cavaliers are reeling in the NBA finals.

They're down 3-0 to the Golden State Warriors - a deficit no NBA team has ever come back from in playoff history - and LeBron James isn't getting a whole lot of help from his team as they try to avoid a sweep in Game 4 on Friday night.

That sets the stage for a bombshell of a rumor that Dan Patrick dropped on "The Dan Patrick Show" this week.

Citing a source with "firsthand knowledge of the situation," Patrick said James proposed an ownership swap between the Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons before he returned to Cleveland in 2014 because he didn't want to play for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

That would've meant Gilbert would own the Pistons - along with the dozens of buildings and properties he already owns in downtown Detroit - and Tom Gores would own the Cavs.

Furthermore, Patrick said, as part of the deal, James wanted Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo to coach the Cavaliers. If you recall, Izzo was previously courted by the Cavaliers in 2010, when they fired Mike Brown, but Izzo chose to stay at MSU. Weeks later, James left Cleveland in free agency to join stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.

To be clear, there is no confirmation from anyone else that this proposal occurred, and the timing is quite curious, with the Cavaliers getting handled in the NBA finals.

“So what I was told to me last night is ... LeBron was willing to go back to Cleveland, but he wanted the Cavaliers’ ownership to buy the Pistons, and the Pistons’ ownership would take over the Cavaliers," Patrick said on his radio show. “You were going to have Tom Izzo coaching.

"Izzo, friends with the guys who own the Pistons, they were then going to take over the Cavaliers. Dan Gilbert, who’s a Michigan guy, would get to then own the Pistons. And LeBron would then be able to play in Cleveland for the ownership of the Pistons as opposed to Dan (Gilbert)."

Obviously, the proposed swap never happened. James ended up signing with the Cavaliers anyway in July 2014, ending his 4-year stint with the Miami Heat, where he won his first two NBA championships. He led the Cavaliers to the championship in 2016.

As slamonline.com points out, there has been one ownership swap in the NBA before: In 1978, when the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers pulled it off.

<--- Big Baller World Order

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"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

Gilbert has brought his brand of "city swindling" to Cleveland and I don't think it's a good thing, regardless of what the Cavs do