What if the Cavaliers kept the same team they had before the trade deadline?

What if the Warriors never blew a 3-1 lead? What if the Trail Blazers took Kevin Durant No. 1 overall? What if the Lakers never traded for Kobe Bryant on draft night? And after Golden State swept Cleveland out of the 2018 NBA Finals, we have another question to add to the Mt. Rushmore of what-if history:

What if the Cavs never blew it up in the middle of the season?

Kyrie Irving requested a trade last summer that shook the NBA community to its core. Irving didn’t want to play in James’s shadow anymore, and his departure created a void that Cleveland could never fill.

But the initial trade on paper looked incredible. The Cavs got an all-star guard, a legitimate two-way wing and the Brooklyn pick that became No. 8 overall. Coupled with the ensuing free agency acquisitions, the Cavaliers looked poised for far better than a four-game sweep at the hands of the Warriors.

It never happened. The players never gelled on-court, and off-court drama led to more losses than digestible for a franchise used to greatness. The Cavaliers blew it up, and got pennies on the dollar for an all-world talent in Irving.

Isaiah Thomas was coming off a sensational scoring season where he averaged 28.9 points per game. He was also coming off of a hidden hip injury that lingered into January. The Cavaliers traded him, and he ended up averaging 15 points per game in Los Angeles, though on subpar shooting percentages.

Thomas was one of several players who could have helped take offensive pressure off of James. Dwyane Wade proved he still had just a little bit left in the tank, and when LeBron was off the court, the Cavs ran their offense through Wade. Derrick Rose had his struggles both on and off the court, but he’s a former league MVP who averaged 14 points on 50 percent shooting for the Timberwolves in the playoffs. Jae Crowder had his struggles both in Cleveland and Utah, but he’s still a physical, versatile defender who shot 40 percent form three in Boston a season ago. The Cavs also traded away Iman Shumpert, who would have been the best possible defender for Stephen Curry, as well as Channing Frye.

Would you rather have Thomas, Wade, Rose, Crowder and Shumpert, or George Hill, no-show Jordan Clarkson, DNP-Rodney Hood, and Larry Nance Jr.?

Cavs GM Koby Altman did as good a job as anyone could have when Irving blindsided the team with a trade request. He got an all-star, a two-way wing, a draft pick and a young big man in return, then signed the requisite pieces to fill out the roster.

But when the going gets tough, the tough are supposed to get going. The going got tough early on in Cleveland, and the Cavs pressed the big, red abort button.

There’s no telling if Isaiah Thomas finally catches the hot streak the world had been waiting for him to catch. Shortly after his trade to L.A., he scored 29 points against the Miami Heat. Shortly after that, he opted to get surgery on his hip. What if he was competing for a championship? And what if time to stew finally allowed Rose to refocus on basketball like he did in Minnesota?

LeBron just dragged THIS Cavaliers team to an NBA Finals. You’re telling me he couldn’t get at least one game with this team?

That’s a hard sell if you ask me. Sure, Isaiah Thomas was a defensive liability, but the Cavs devolved into the second-worst defensive team in the league after his trade. Defense is about trust, anyway, and trust takes time to build.

The thing is, we’ll never know if that Cavs team would have beaten this Warriors team at least once, or maybe twice. Hell, we don’t even know if those Cavs could have beaten the Pacers, or swept the Raptors, or gotten out of a seven-game series against the Celtics.

But it’s worth wondering: How would the Cleveland Cavaliers have fared this season if they kept it together?

What if? Man, what if?