Cavaliers ‘not actively’ looking to trade forward Kevin Love

The Cleveland Cavaliers are heading into an offseason surrounded much uncertainty concerning the future of the franchise. With All-star forward LeBron James’ nearing a huge free agency decision that could see him depart, the Cavaliers reportedly want to keep All-Star forward Kevin Love next season, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

The Cavaliers are not actively shopping All-Star forward Kevin Love heading into Thursday’s NBA draft, multiple sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Furthermore, regardless of what decision LeBron James makes about his future in Cleveland, the Cavs have interest in keeping Love next season, sources said.

The 29-year-old still has two more years left on his current contract. The deal is worth roughly $49.6 million and runs through the 2019-20 season. Love is in the midst of the prime of his career. He is playing at a high level, coming off another highly productive campaign. He averaged 17.6 points on 45.8 percent shooting from the field. As well as that, he had 41.5 percent from 3-point range along with 9.3 rebounds in 59 games played.

The presence of Love would at least give them a building block. They will need him to lead the charge offensively if James were to leave in free agency. He has shown in the past in his career that he can be a dependable scoring asset. In addition, he can play at an All-star level.

This also silences the talk that the Cavaliers could make a serious run to acquire All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard in order to make a stronger case to keep James this offseason. Regardless of that being the case, Cleveland’s future will be highly impacted by what the four-time league MVP decides to do in free agency.