The Cleveland Cavaliers were monitoring the Boston Celtics efforts to acquire either Paul George or Jimmy Butler at the deadline.

The Celtics are already a top contender in the Eastern Conference, but acquiring either of those star wings would make them even more competitive in a series against the Cavaliers. Both George and Butler have played LeBron James well in the playoffs.

"The Cavs were on pins and needles yesterday about the Celtics getting Paul George or Jimmy Butler," said Windhorst on Zach Lowe's podcast. "Pins and needles. That's why I'm saying. Let's put it this way: if on day one next year it's Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, and Isaiah Thomas, the Cavs will be like 'okay, that's going to be a challenge.' If it's Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and Jimmy Butler, the Cavs might be out there saying 'we may have to trade Kevin Love.'"

The Celtics were weighing whether to package a combination of draft assets and existing players in a deal. Danny Ainge can revisit those talks in June.

While the future of Paul George wasn't decided at the deadline, his preference of options became somewhat clear.

George will strongly consider signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018 if the Indiana Pacers aren't in contention for a title.

"Here's the issue with Paul George: he's made it clear that if he's going to leave Indiana, he's going home to L.A.," said Wojnarowski. "He grew up in southern California. Big Kobe Bryant fan. His dad is a big Magic Johnson fan. Obviously Magic is running the organization now.

"The direction that I was told that the Lakers got in the last couple of days was 'hey, don't gut your team to go get Paul George.'

"Magic Johnson did lob a call to Larry Bird, but if you're the Lakers and you don't have a tremendous amount of assets, they have some young players they hope will develop. They're going to sit back and wait to sign him as a free agent. They're going to have cap space in 2018.

"If they were to try to trade for him, they would have to give up the core of their team and Paul George is going to have no one to play with there.

"I think this is how the Pacers are looking at this. All things being equal, they know that Paul George would rather be in L.A., but they are not equal."

If George doesn't qualify for the supermax contract, the Pacers can sign him to a five-year, $180 million deal while a rival team can sign him to a four-year, $132 million deal.

The Nuggets were essentially warned that George will sign with the Lakers in 2018 if they trade for him.

DeMarcus Cousins was told a week before he was traded by the Sacramento Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans that he wouldn't be dealt.

"A week before the trade," said Cousins when asked when he wouldn't be traded. "The sick part about it is that Vlade (Divac) came in my house with my agent [Jarinn Akana]. We sat in my theater and just talked. That was maybe three weeks ago. We sat there and [he] told me what moves he wanted to make. All of that. I just didn’t understand.

"I got a text from the owner (Vivek Ranadive) right before I went to All-Star. He was asking me about a player, how I felt about him and making a move. The owner! When it happened, I was just in shock. I didn’t understand."

Cousins first heard about the trade rumors before the All-Star game.

"I heard the rumors before the game. But I’ve heard rumors the last four years about me being traded. It was like, ‘Whatever.’ When they sat me down with the media after the game, my PR guy at the time [Chris Clark] said, ‘There is serious talk about you possibly being moved.’"

Carmelo Anthony admitted he doesn't understand management's vision for the New York Knicks after they sat out the deadline.

"No, not now. No, to be honest with you," Anthony said late Thursday night. "I think they were kind of planning on the trade deadline, whether they were trying to make moves. I think that was one plan. Now they've got to get back to the drawing board and come up with another plan about the future of this team."

The Knicks discussed a trade centered on Derrick Rose for Ricky Rubio. New York also held discussions involving Anthony with a number of teams in the weeks leading to the deadline but never approached him on waiving his no-trade clause with an actual proposal.

"Yeah, I mean, nobody likes to be in limbo," Anthony said. "We all want to know kind of what's going on, especially when it's involving you. But that's not the way it is in sports. I don't think I'm the only one that's going through that or feeling that way. I think there's other players who feel the same way, that they want to be involved -- not involved, but at least up to date with what's going on. I feel like I'm kind of up to date as far as when it comes to me what's going on."

Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, added that he "anticipated" that the Knicks wouldn't put together a deal to trade him by the deadline.

"It wasn't really anything kind of worth looking at, talking about or exploring. So I kind of knew that over the past couple of days," Anthony said, adding that the Knicks never approached him with a formal trade. "We all kind of know what was going on out there, seeing what was worth talking about or bringing to the table. Obviously nothing was worth bringing to the table."

The New York Knicks intend to keep Phil Jackson as president but his intentions for the direction of the franchise are unclear and he hasn't addressed the media in weeks.

Jackson also doesn't like speaking to opposing executives.

One NBA general manager told the New York Daily News last week in New Orleans that his team "can't get a hold of Phil. It's crazy."

On the front office level, relationships are a critical component of doing business. Relationships between teams allow mutually beneficial trades to happen. The one major trade Jackson has made, acquiring Derrick Rose from the Bulls, can be linked to his former player John Paxson.

Jackson reportedly has few friends around the NBA outside of those he's worked with directly in the past. There is a notion that some executives of teams Jackson has openly ridiculed in the past aren't interested in doing business with him.

There are also several veterans unhappy with the direction of the team and don't like having to run the triangle offense.

Andrew Bogut is expected to agree upon a buyout with the Philadelphia 76ers and a loophole in the CBA will allow him to return to the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors traded Bogut to the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason to help clear salary cap space to sign Kevin Durant. The Mavericks traded Bogut to the 76ers in a package for Nerlens Noel at the deadline.

The reacquisition restriction rule only applies to the "last trade" and not all prior trades as well.

According to a source, the NBA is interpreting that the "last trade" designation technically applies to the Mavericks only.

It is not year clear if the Warriors will have interest in Bogut, who figures to receive interest from the Cavaliers and Celtics.

According to Marc Stein, the Warriors will consider all options but they have been focused on targeting guards or signing Briante Weber for the remainder of the season. The Warriors have Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee on their depth chart for big man minutes, though they recently waived Anderson Varejao.

The Chicago Bulls plan on keeping Rajon Rondo for the remainder of the season.

With Rondo on a partially guaranteed deal for the 17-18 season, the Bulls view Rondo as an attractive trade chip in June to facilitate a potentially larger deal.

The Bulls traded for Cameron Payne at the deadline and he figures to get a shot to be their starting point guard.

Rondo lost his starting point guard job in December.

The Indiana Pacers took trade talks with Paul George down to the wire ahead of the deadline but elected to keep him. The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets were engaged with the Pacers on talks for George.

George addressed the media shortly after the deadline passed and expressed his frustrations that he wasn't better briefed by the Pacers on the talks.

"I kind of was on the ropes just like you guys on what was about to happen. It was kind of a dark moment of uncertainty. That was the frustrating part. You want me to be your guy here, I thought I'd be in the loop a little more than that."

According to various reports, George would like to re-sign with the Pacers if they can compete for a title, or sign outright with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.

After the team’s practice Wednesday, George said he was focused on leading the Pacers after an inconsistent season through 57 games.

“I’m committed here,” George said then. “Myself and the front office, we’ve had great talks. I’ve got a job to do and I’m trying to turn a season around, trying to get us playing better. That’s where my mind is. It’s easy to block out everything else. I can’t allow that to weigh on me. This is what’s important right now.”

The Denver Nuggets made an aggressive offer to the Indiana Pacers at the deadline for Paul George.

The Nuggets recruited a third team in the talks but were hesitant to part with Jamal Murray for George. Murray has been one of the most promising rookies of the 2016 draft class.

Denver was also reportedly informed that George is most interested in either re-signing with the Pacers or joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.

The Nuggets made Nikola Jokic completely untouchable.

Denver was similarly aggressive in landing a star during the 2016 offseason.

The Atlanta Hawks pursued trades for both Jimmy Butler and Paul George at the deadline.

Atlanta made aggressive offers built around a package of draft picks with more than three first rounders discussed. The Hawks own all of their own first round picks as well as future firsts from the Wolves and Cavs.

The Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls decided to keep Butler and George respectively.

The Hawks have been stuck between rebuilding and continuing to contend as they decided to keep Paul Millsap at the deadline.