The Magic recently "asked for permission" to talk to Cavaliers GM David Griffin about their president of basketball operations opening, but Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert "has been unresponsive to the request," according to sources cited by Adrian Wojnarowski of THE VERTICAL. Griffin’s contract expires at the end of June, and the Cavaliers "could choose to hold onto Griffin past the end of the team’s playoff run and the NBA draft on June 22, and forbid him to engage Orlando until the cusp of July 1 free agency." For Gilbert, it "could be a stall tactic" in hopes of making the Magic grow "tired of waiting on Griffin and eventually offering" the job elsewhere. Sources said that the Cavaliers so far have not "made a substantive offer to Griffin." There has been a "consistent belief inside and outside the Cavaliers’ organization that Griffin will aggressively pursue the Magic’s president job" because of the Cavs' "unwillingness to offer him a market-level contract." Through the years, "most in the employ of Gilbert believe that he has increasingly devalued the position of GM in his mind, believing that he can replace Griffin the way he did" Chris Grant in '14 and Danny Ferry in '10. In those cases, the Cavs promoted from within and paid "less salary" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/16).
