CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There was no defending against Kevin Durant.

Forget about what he did on the court against the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, where he won the MVP by averaging 35.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in the Warriors' 4-1 series victory.

As soon as Durant became a free agent last summer and chose to join Golden State -- a team already loaded with a two-time MVP coming off consecutive Finals berths -- there was nothing the rest of the league could really do about it.

There is a way in which the Cavs could do the same thing to the rest of the NBA, either this summer or at some point during the upcoming season, and it involves aging stars Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.

Neither is at the height of his powers like Durant, but both are extremely close to LeBron James, and if added to a team that already has James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, they could perhaps put the Cavs over the top once again.

There is more the league could do to stop this. The Knicks could, theoretically, trade Anthony; or they could honor his wishes and allow him to play out his contract with the Knicks.

The Bulls could hold onto Wade this season. But events over the past few days suggest that neither is a likely scenario.

Consider what Knicks president Phil Jackson said this week about Anthony: "We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time, and I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talent somewhere he can win or chase that championship."

Jackson has tried to trade Anthony over the past two seasons, and twice rumors of trades arose in which the Knicks would ship Anthony to Cleveland in a deal for Love (though Love might not have ended up in New York).

Anthony, 33, will make $26.2 million next season, but he has a 15 percent "trade kicker" in his contract that bumps his pay if he is dealt. Finding a willing partner with the assets to make a trade for Anthony work has proven impossible for Jackson, a task that might be even harder considering Jackson's comments this week.

Additionally, Anthony has a no-trade clause and, again, has said he wants to stay with the Knicks. But if they buy him out, he gets his money and his pick of where to go.

A source who knows Anthony said he would consider the Cavs in the event of a buyout.

Wade, 35, just picked up his $23.8 million option on his contract for next season. And last night, the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota, a signal that the team is rebuilding.

Wade was interested in playing with James on the Cavs last summer, before he chose the Bulls as a free agent, but was not about to come to Cleveland for the tiny (by NBA standards, of course) salary the Cavs could afford to pay him because they were (way) over the salary cap.

The Cavs are in the same situation -- the most they could pay either player is about $5.1 million, through the mid-level taxpayer's exception, a dollar amount that could also be divided among them.

But in the case of buyouts, both men would have already been paid millions by their respective teams.

There will be other contending teams, such as San Antonio or Houston, with space under the cap to pay them more than the Cavs. But either Anthony, Wade or both could come to Cleveland for a couple million dollars, and the Cavs will not have traded away Love to get either of them.

Their personal ties are to James.

This week, of course, the Cavs tried to trade Love to land either Butler (who's now off the table, secured by the Timberwolves) or Paul George.

Cleveland could be on the verge of hiring Chauncey Billups to run the team's front office. Billups and Anthony were teammates for three seasons in Denver and New York.

Anthony averaged 22.4 points and 5.9 rebounds last season. Wade averaged 18.3 points.

Both players could start here. Love could play center and James power forward. Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith could come off the bench.

The two newest additions in this hypothetical, Anthony and Wade, would each make millions more this season than if they stayed with their original teams.

And both would almost surely be in the Finals, against the Warriors, with a real chance for a championship.

In Anthony's case, a ring would be his first.