It wouldn’t be NBA trade season if Kevin Love wasn’t involved in some trade rumors. To be fair, he’s been in trade rumors since he got to Cleveland with Lebron. Now, the reports are more logical than ever. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a rebuilding team, with Kevin Love on the books for the next 4 years, there’s no point keeping him on the team. Nor should he want to be on a rebuilding team when his best playing days are most likely gone or soon to be gone. Using reports that I’ve seen, Garrett Burroughs came up with some trade packages that should be good enough to get the job done for Cleveland to ship Kevin Love. These trades have all run through the trade machine and all work as well.
Portland Trail Blazers
This is probably the most known out of all the Kevin Love trade rumors we’ve seen the most. The Blazers are interested in Kevin Love. They have the contracts to do it and it could be beneficial to have a stretch 4 like Kevin Love to have.
Garrett’s trade offer:
Portland Trail Blazers receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Kent Bazemore, Jursuf Nurkic, and Nassir Little
OR
Portland Trail Blazers receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Hassan Whiteside, 2nd round pick
The first trade offers good benefits for the Cavaliers, they get an expiring contract Kent Bazemore and two great contracts and studs in Nurkic and Little. Although most Blazer fans love Nurkic, that could be the dealbreakers for the Blazers. If that is the case then the second trade comes into mind. Fortunately, both Whiteside and Love’s contracts are similar so they could do a swap. Hassan Whiteside’s contract expires in that legendary 2021 Free Agency class, that’s why the Cavs should take the deal. If they can get a pick out of the Blazers while they are at it, they win this deal.
Phoenix Suns
I’ve seen Kevin Love trade rumors that the Suns are interested. It would also be a good fit for them and would help the Suns push to get that elusive playoff berth. A prominent 4 would help the Suns starting lineup and their bench. This would most likely put their starting lineup at Rubio, Booker, Oubre, Love, and Ayton. Their bench would be lacking in guards, but their frontcourt would consist of Saric, Baynes, and Kaminsky. That’s not a bad frontcourt at all. In my opinion, Saric and Oubre would serve the team best if they switched and Oubre came off the bench but either way.
Garrett’s Trade offer:
Phoenix Suns receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Tyler Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Unprotected First Round Pick
The only problem with this trade is that the Cavs don’t get a big man in return. But if the Suns do Suns things and end up messing this up, that 1st rounder is easily the positive. Also, Tyler Johnson’s contract expires this year, that’s 19 million off the books for the Cavs and they can continue their rebuild wisely.
Denver Nuggets
This is another team for the Kevin Love trade rumors I’ve seen. At first, I didn’t like this idea, actually, I hated it. But the more and more I think about it, the more that I like the idea. The Nuggets go to a win-now mode and the Cavs get some cap relief, it works for both parties.
Garrett’s trade offer:
Denver Nuggets receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Paul Millsap, 2nd round pick
Paul Millsap is a waste of money for the Nuggets. For how he is playing, they could have paid him half of what he’s getting paid right now. Luckily, his contract expires and that is a good trade piece for any team. the Cavs would get 30 million for the offseason to get young pieces, and the Nuggets would get a reliable 2nd/3rd option to score after Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets become even more dangerous than they are right now at the 2nd seed in the West.
Miami Heat
The 4th team for the Kevin Love trade rumors was the Miami Heat. This one was a fun one. The Miami Heat have the most promise to get a deal done for Kevin Love I feel like. They have the most interchangeable contracts to meet the Cavaliers’ demands. Garrett and I have narrowed it down to two trades that would probably interest the Cavs.
Garrett’s trade offer:
Miami Heat receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Justise Winslow, Meyers Leonard, Udonis Haslem, and Duncan Robinson.
It should be noted that Garrett recommends that Haslem would be cut after this. Meyers Leonard is an expiring contract and they get two young pieces in Winslow and Robinson. This would definitely help their rebuild and get them way younger with some cap relief for this year.
My trade offer:
Miami Heat receive: Kevin Love
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Goran Dragic, Meyers Leonard OR Justise Winslow.
I included the or just because I’m not sure what the Cavs would want more: the cap relief or the young piece. Either way, they get one of those and Goran Dragic expiring contract. Sure, this makes the Cavaliers very cluttered at the guard position, but it’s not like the Cavs want to resign him, nor does he want to stay there. This is simply about getting Kevin Love’s contract off the books. Either way, the Cavs get 19 million in cap relief and a young piece, or just 30 million of cap relief altogether.
Boston Celtics
THERE’S NO TRADE OFFER HERE! Let me explain why. First of all, I don’t think the Celtics need a big man necessarily. Their great core of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker is picking up the slack for the lack of a big man. Enes Kanter is doing well enough that the Celtics are winning and that is all you can ask for. Even if they wanted to upgrade in their front-court, who would you trade? Kemba Walker? No. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, your very good young pieces? Absolutely not. Marcus Smart, the defensive anchor for the team? Negative. Gordon Hayward? Some of you would say yes, but did you forget that Brad Stevens and Gordon Hayward have a history together? Brad Stevens was Gordon Hayward’s coach at Butler after all. There’s no way Hayward gets traded. After those 5, there’s no way the Celtics could trade for Kevin Love even if they tried. The Celtics would get worse if they traded any of those pieces for Kevin Love. The Celtics roster works well together and I wouldn’t change a thing on that roster.
This year, I am more convinced than ever that Kevin Love will be traded, the Cavaliers look ready to fully commit to the rebuild and Kevin Love is not part of those plans. I believe it will be one of those 4 teams from above with packages similar to that. Give Garrett Burroughs some props on Twitter for these trade packages. I’ve been known to make some garbage trade packages so I needed his help on this one.
