Timberwolves, Cavaliers and Warriors in a Love Triangle
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, let’s talk about Kevin Love and his on and off again trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors by the NBA Northwest division Minnesota Timberwolves.
Timberwolves and Cavaliers have discussed the possibility of a huge blockbuster trade that involves Love and the past two No. 1 picks in the draft, said league sources.
Cleveland wants Love to join recently signed LeBron James, second year star Kyrie Irving and the club is now willing to included Anthony Bennett the No. 1 pick in 2013 and Andrew Wiggins the No. 1 pick from last month.
One person close to the situation said Cleveland is even willing to throw in a draft pick in the first round for 2015. It is not known if any other players are included in the trade talks on either Cleveland or Minnesota.
It seemed late in the week that a trade was imminent but the Timberwolves want more than Cleveland is currently willing to offer.
Bennett and Wiggins did not play in Cleveland’s final game of the summer league on Friday versus Miami.
Cleveland said both would take pa
rt in warm-ups and would be in uniform, but had given the Cavaliers enough over their four games before Friday, in the Las Vegas league.
Minnesota has also spoken to Golden State about trading Love to the Warriors. However, the Warriors do not want to include shooting guard Klay Thompson as part of the trade package and Minnesota insists he be included.
Some executives with the Warriors are willing to include Thompson in the package, but the stance by the club, especially new head coach Steve Kerr is not to include Thompson.
Some have the feeling that the Timberwolves would like to drive up the price to acquire Love by having the Warriors and Cavaliers compete against one another for Love.
Even the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics are reportedly trying to put a package together to trade for the talented Love. However, Golden State and Cleveland appear as if they are the frontrunners in all the different rumors and trade scenarios.
Love this past season averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds for the Timberwolves. He was named to his third All-Star team in six years in the league.
Love’s current contract with Minnesota has an opt out clause he can activate at the end of the 2014-15 season. If he chooses to do that, and speculation is high, he will.
He then becomes an unrestricted free agent and the Timberwolves will get nothing for him in the form of compensation.
However, rumors in the NBA Northwest indicate that Minnesota is willing to take its chances on keeping Love on their roster this season in hopes he will change his mind and stay.
Wiggins remains unsigned by Cleveland and some believe that is because it will make trading him easier to pull off. If Wiggins signs his rookie contract, he cannot be traded for 30 days.
