Report: Griffin was working on Butler trade when departure from Cavs announced

David Griffin gave everything he had to his job during his three-plus-year tenure as the Cleveland Cavaliers' general manager. Indeed, Griffin was working the phones on behalf of the Cavs right up until the moment team owner Dan Gilbert announced that his contract wouldn't be renewed.

Griffin was "elbow deep" in his effort to piece together a trade for Chicago Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler on Monday, no more than an hour before Gilbert issued his statement, according to NBA.com's David Aldridge.

With their clogged cap sheet and paucity of trade assets, the Cavs were reportedly trying to rope a third team into negotiations in order to create an appealing enough package to pry Butler loose.

As unlikely as acquiring him may have been, Griffin has gotten creative and worked minor miracles to improve the Cavs' roster before. While LeBron James' return in the summer of 2014 was the biggest factor - by an enormous margin - in the team's three straight Finals appearances and first-ever title in 2016, the supplemental upgrades Griffin provided were instrumental - whether they were major moves (the Kyrie Irving extension, the Kevin Love trade) or marginal ones (the few-to-no-strings acquisitions of J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and Kyle Korver).

Butler would've been the biggest fish Griffin has reeled in to date, and turning Cleveland's barren asset cupboard into an All-NBA wing would've been an all-time coup. Even for an exec of Griffin's caliber, with a knack for pushing all the right buttons, it feels like a stretch to think he could've pulled it off.

Now we'll never know.