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Report: Kings almost derailed 3-team deal with Cavs, Jazz over Papagiannis

Harry How / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Cleveland Cavaliers' dramatic roster upheaval was nearly undone by one team trying to sneakily dispose of its own player.

On the night before the deadline, Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman had convinced both the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings of a three-team deal that would land Cleveland both Rodney Hood from Utah and George Hill from Sacramento. Altman was irate, however, when the Kings sent the Cavaliers a memo at 3 a.m. ET that suddenly included Georgios Papagiannis in the framework for the deal, despite "livid" Jazz executives and Altman insisting the center had never been involved in talks until that point, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Of course, the eventual three-team trade that was finalized did not involve Papagiannis. Utah acquired Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose (who they immediately waived), the Kings landed Iman Shumpert and Joe Johnson, and the Cavaliers picked up their targets in Hood and Hill.

That doesn't mean the final deal didn't actually hinge on the Greek center, though.

Papagiannis was eventually bought out by the Kings, though they apparently weren't the ones to foot the expenses. Wojnarowski reports Sacramento convinced the Cavaliers to pay $2.1 million of the remaining $3.2 million of Papagiannis' salary, while the Jazz reluctantly chipped in $1.1 million in order to buy out the 20-year-old and complete the three-team swap.

After the release of his client, Papagiannis' agent ripped into the Kings' front office, stating the 2016 first-round pick was never given a chance by the "very disorganized franchise."

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