Washington Wizards v Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 2

Could superstar point guard Chris Paul have replaced LeBron James on the Miami Heat? Despite widespread anticipation of CP3 joining Miami alongside Chris Bosh, Gilbert Arenas suggested that the reality might be different from what many believe.

There has been no timeline on when Paul considered teaming up with Dwyane Wade in Miami. Many are led to believe that it was before the Big Three along with James got together. However, on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast, Gilbert Arenas said that it happened right after the 2011 NBA Finals when the Heat got upset by the Dallas Mavericks.

“Let’s rewind back to 2011 when they lost to Dallas,” Arenas said. “What was the reason they lost to Dallas? (“Bron,” Shannon Sharpe answered.) Who played bad? Who didn’t fit well with the other two? Miami was thinking about trading, and it wasn’t Bosh at that time. ‘Cause you know, right then, it was who’s fighting over power?”

LeBron James, who just came to Miami at the start of the 2010-11 season, averaged 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 79 games. As the Heat made it to the 2011 NBA Finals as they were expected to, the numbers dipped to 17.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 6.8 apg in six games.

Arenas hinted that James was supposed to be traded for Chris Paul by the Miami Heat, replacing LeBron in the Big Three with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

How the Miami Heat could trade LeBron James for Chris Paul?

In the summer before the 2011-12 NBA season, Chris Paul was in the last year of his rookie extension with the New Orleans Hornets, averaging a salary of $14.9 million per season. Paul, the subject of trade talks, was the centerpiece of the nixed LA Lakers trade to team up with Kobe Bryant.

CP3 then got traded to the LA Clippers to join rising stars Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and the rest was history.

On the other hand, LeBron James took a pay cut and was set to earn $16 million in the 2011-12 season. The trade scenario is that the Hornets would put in another player or a draft pick along with Paul to make the transaction successful.

James, Bosh and Wade each signed with Miami as free agents in 2010, and Paul was still serving two more years of his rookie extension with the Hornets, which substantiated Arenas’ speculation.

This revelation by Gilbert Arenas to Shannon Sharpe that James could be traded during the summer of 2011 just got an inch of validation instead of the scenario that most people believe Paul could have teamed up with Wade and James the season prior.