Kevin Love Is Available And Could Be A Contender's Wet Dream
(ESPN) - As NBA trade possibilities expand beginning Dec. 15, the Cleveland Cavaliers are expressing a willingness to listen to offers for All-Star forward Kevin Love, league sources told ESPN.
Cleveland is open to the idea of moving Love before the Feb. 6 trade deadline should the Cavaliers find a requisite package of young assets and/or future draft picks, league sources said.
Love is an intriguing target for franchises in both conferences, especially in a season in which so many teams believe a key addition could catapult them into championship contention.
You knew it was only a matter of time before a team that is clearly going forward with a youth movement was eventually going to bite the bullet and look to move the last two pieces from that 2016 championship team who also happen to be their biggest salaries with Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. Seeing as how the Cavs are currently 5-17 and have the second worst record in the East, with the December 15th date quickly approaching this shouldn't come as a surprise. A quick look at how things are going in CLE at the moment and who could blame everyone from just going their separate ways
So the question now becomes, who is going to save Kevin Love? First, the specifics. He's owed a hefty 3/90M left on his 4/120M extension that he signed last season (and who could blame him for taking Gilbert's money), so trading him isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially if it's coming from a contending team who is most likely already over the cap. You have to find some way to make that money work. You're also signing on for years 32, 33, and 34 of Love, but the spin would be given the way he plays he should actually age pretty well. He's still a consistent 16/10 player with good splits who can stretch the floor, and he absolutely could be a missing piece to get a good team over the hump. The defense still stinks out loud, but you can hide that if Love is like your 3rd or 4th piece.
Who could that mystery team be? Well how about…
Miami Heat
You want to talk about a contender that could be looking to add star power? The Heat do have the contracts to make it work with someone like Goran Dragic and Kelly Olynyk. That gets you to the $31M you need, Dragic is an expiring deal which CLE would probably like, and Olynyk is a similar stretch big who is only on the books for 1 more year (if he picks up his player option). Now you're rolling with Butler/Love/Bam/Winslow/Herro/Robinson/Nunn etc, which would definitely keep them in the top-ish tier in the East.
The down side it the Heat kiss their future cap space goodbye but I wouldn't rule this out.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers will probably be a team you hear most, and maybe that's because it feels like Love has been linked to POR rumors for like 10 years by now. To do it the Cavs would have to be down to take the last year of Hassan Whiteside on which isn't great but at the same time he's off the books after this season so that will help with future space. You risk him ruining the locker room and poisioning the minds of their young players so maybe you stay away if you're CLE, but it's clear why POR would want to make this move.
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It would give them a legit 3rd option next to Dame/Lillard, take some pressure off Melo, and once they get Nurkic back that's a pretty legit frontcourt with a solid inside/outside presence.
Los Angeles Lakers
I'm sorry, but you can never rule out LeBron James when it comes to one of his buddies. Now granted they didn't exactly get along during those CLE years at all times, and it would require a third team since the Lakers don't exactly have the salaries outside of KCP's $8M to play with, but I'm not ruling out the Lakers. If LeBron tells his front office to go get Love, they'll find a way.
Toronto Raptors
This one almost seems like a no brainer too. They have the salaries available to make it worth, largely revolving around Gasol and his $25M expiring deal, they own all their first round picks and could offer the Cavs cap space plus assets as they continue their rebuild. This gives the Raptors a core of Fred VanVleet (if he resigns)/Lowry/Love/Siakam for the foreseeable future which you would think extends their window a little bit. Ujiri isn't scared when it comes to taking a risk, and it's not like the Raptors are a big time free agent destination at this point anyway, so bringing in a talent like Love for this next wave while not really losing anything seems like a deal that makes perfect sense. You also have to factor in the potential loss of Ibaka who is also in the last year of his deal, the Raptors almost have to make this happen.
It'll be interesting to see what the market ends up being for Love because I feel like with the league so wide open and so many teams thinking they are one piece away from winning a title, someone is going to overpay. In the right situation Kevin Love can make a real difference, so let the bidding war begin.