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To no one’s surprise, the Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly open to listening to Kevin Love trade offers. Here are five potential deals that would make sense.
When Kevin Love agreed to a four-year, $120 million extension in 2018, the clock began ticking. Heading into the 2019-20 campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers were adamant that they wanted to keep the last remaining member of their champion Big 3 around, but when rebuilds become full-fledged youth movements, star veterans in their twilight years like Love don’t really belong.
Fast forward to December and the Cavs are 5-16, with a minus-8.6 point differential and players reportedly bristling at head coach John Beilein’s college coaching style. Given that prickly situation, it’s clear that established players like Love and Tristan Thompson should be firmly on the trade block.
This was inevitable, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday that Cleveland is now open to listening to trade offers for Love.
Though Love is 31 years old and has an extensive injury history, he’s also still a star player in this league who can provide rebounding, 3-point shooting and championship experience to a team looking to throw its hat in the ring during a wide-open chase for the championship.
The 2020 NBA free agency class is exceedingly dry on star-caliber talent, boosting the value of a midseason trade for quality players like Love and Danilo Gallinari. Love is still owed $91.5 million over the upcoming three seasons, which is quite a gamble given that he’s missed 105 games over the last three years.
However, he’s still an All-Star caliber player, averaging 16.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game and shooting 37.6 percent from 3 on 5.9 attempts a night. He has value in this league, and though the Cavs will be looking for an offer that “blows them away,” they also might be happy to just get the remaining three and a half years of his contract off the books … with some light draft compensation or some young players to add to the pile, of course.
Bearing all that in mind, here are five potential Kevin Love trades (and a few honorable mentions) that would make the most sense.
Honorable Mentions:
Denver Nuggets — The Nuggets are one of the most commonly mentioned trade suitors for Love, but their identity is grounded in their defense this year. Trading Paul Millsap‘s expiring deal for Love straight up works financially, but is Denver willing to surrender its defensive prowess for more shooting and rebounding? Mason Plumlee‘s expiring deal and Will Barton works as well, but that would leave the Nuggets with an even more gaping hole at the 3, and there’s no guarantee Cleveland would even want two years of Barton. The Nuggets need an offensive jolt, but it’s hard to see how they make a move without trading defense for offense straight up.
Boston Celtics — Another commonly mentioned suitor for Love given their past interest in him, but unless they’re trading Gordon Hayward for him straight up, none of the other options make much sense. Any deal involving Marcus Smart isn’t happening. Hayward wouldn’t make much sense for the Cavs either, even if Boston was cool with pissing off Brad Stevens by trading his former Butler star.
Charlotte Hornets — A sneaky good destination for Love. Nicolas Batum and a first-round pick for Love works, shortening the Cavs’ obligation from Love’s four-year deal to the remaining $27.1 million player option Batum is certain to pick up this summer. The Hornets have a surprisingly strong young core, and an aging star can pick a worse situation to be overpaid in. He’d plug in nicely to that frontcourt, and even with the salaries of Marvin Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bismack Biyombo coming off the books, how much better could Charlotte do in free agency? Maybe Gallo, or someone like Aron Baynes? Trading for Love, who still has three years on his contract, would allow this young group to grow and be competitive — especially if they can get rid of Terry Rozier‘s deal somehow.
Houston Rockets — The Rockets would love to have Kevin Love. Good luck working out a functional trade without involving one or two other teams, since James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela aren’t going anywhere and Eric Gordon can’t be traded until after the deadline.