More on Kevin Love Trade?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are unlikely to trade Kevin Love this summer, but the Portland Trail Blazers have reportedly inquired in the past. Earlier this month, Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz described trading for the Portland-born big man as “well worth the risk” for the Trail Blazers. Following this speculation, Mike Richman reported that Portland inquired about the hometown hero, but the interest was not mutual from Cleveland (via Locked on Blazers):
“Last summer, the Blazers went into the offseason with very little of value. They had a bunch of big contracts with multiple years left. They didn’t have many enticing young players to make trades, they did not have a high draft pick to do things. But the thing they did have was a fairly large trade exception that was going to expire. And they spent much of the early part of the offseason calling around to teams trying to get them to give away big contract money so they could absorb it with that trade exception. And the Blazers were willing to pay a fat luxury tax and figure it out. One of the teams that they called last summer was the Cleveland Cavaliers… At that time last summer, the Cavs told the Blazers they did not want to make that trade.”
You’re not the only one sending the Kevin Love trade questions. But I don’t know how many other ways I can write this response before it resonates. Love is not one of the players the Cavs are looking to deal. They want him here. They believe his professionalism and leadership are important. He’s the kind of player any team should want around a young group because of the daily example he sets. Would the Cavs move him in the right deal? Sure, they would consider it. No one should be labeled untouchable this early into the rebuild. But each time the Love question is raised, the same response quickly follows. “How are we a better team without Kevin?”
I did a quick survey among five NBA executives asking in the abstract if they would trade for Love’s contract in a deal this summer without the Cavaliers adding additional value to sweeten the pot (for example: by Cleveland taking on a bad contract from the opposing team or by adding a draft pick in addition to Love). The five executives all said no, variously noting that the length of the deal, Love’s potential regression curve as a player because of age, and the uncertainty regarding his injuries as significant deterrents to such a move. Two of the executives noted that it only takes one team and one general manager to look back at Love’s productive history and think that it would be a valuable move. All of them noted that they still thought Love was a good, useful NBA player. But the overall tenor was that it would be difficult to move him on this contract for a positive return.
In order to try and ballpark a valuation on how under water Love’s deal is, I additionally crowdsourced from the executives what contract they thought Love would get on the open market if he was a free agent this season. Nobody thought he would get four years due to the age and injury history, with the estimates falling in the three year, $60-65 million range. Three executives said they would not go beyond two guaranteed years, but two of those noted that they would be willing to add a non-guaranteed third year (Paul Millsap’s deal came up as an example with both). When asked to specifically ballpark a four-year deal, executives put it in the $70 million range, given the significant diminishing returns of a potential fourth season at 34 years old. No one said more than $75 million. Therefore, it’s fair to say that NBA teams around the league see Love’s deal as about $50 million under water.
Six months after signing his massive four-year, $120 million contract extension, the Cleveland Cavaliers can legally deal their injured power forward if they so choose. According to sources, the Cavs' stance on keeping Love hasn't changed. They want him in Cleveland. They value what he can bring on the court when healthy and his leadership and set-the-tone work ethic behind the scenes has been very important. He wants to stay with the team as well.
Who are the next Cavaliers to get moved? Chris Fedor: This is the question that so many are asking. So let’s start here: There’s interest from other teams in All-Star power forward Kevin Love. Sources tell me that the Cavs have received calls about him. It’s the same thing that typically happens with him around this time of year. He's used to it. As I’ve written numerous times, it will take close to the perfect deal for the Cavs to pull the trigger.
Chris Fedor: They want Love around, hoping he can be the rock during this new era. He’s their All-Star. Those inside the organization recognize his value. The decision-makers also understand how difficult it is to acquire those high-level players. When you have one, and he is under team control for a number of years, why give that up? What's the rush? Of course, teams will continue to show interest. He’s a floor-spacing double-double machine. He’s a five-time All-Star. He’s an Olympic gold medalist. When he returned to the practice floor recently, it struck me how much more talented he is than every other player currently on this Cavaliers roster. Unless the Cavs get a treasured offer from an asset-heavy team (rumored teams like Dallas and Charlotte don't really fit this criteria), one with some combination of high draft picks and young, controllable players on team-friendly deals, Love will likely stick around.
"It's a lot to ask someone to take on $144 million for a 30-year-old with an injury history," one of the execs told Bleacher Report. "You're dealing with a very small, narrow marketplace for him." Love's extension, which kicks in next season, brought his five-year guaranteed salary to $144 million. He'll make $28.9 million next season, then the deal levels off at $31.3 million the next two years and goes back to $28.9 million in the final season, when Love will be 34.
"The problem is: You have a rookie GM (Koby Altman)—who's a really good guy and has done some really good things and is trying to prove himself. And you've got a delusional owner [Dan Gilbert]," a Western Conference executive said. "And they're going to think they're supposed to get something for the guy. You're not getting an asset for him under any circumstances."
“We’ll see,” Love said, when asked about the prospect of a trade. “If not, we will wait until summer. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve said all along I’ve wanted to be here. I’ve said this too, it’s a business. We saw that last year at the deadline. I had never seen so many guys traded from a team really ever.”
Love signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension in July. He expects his name will surface in trade talks ahead of the deadline like it does every year. "I would love to be here," Love said. "I would like to play ball here."
Sources reiterated to cleveland.com recently that trading Love is not high on the Cavaliers' list of priorities. The front office has not had deep discussions about that. Even in the midst of this losing season, dropping to the worst record in the NBA, the Cavs' vision hasn't changed.
The latest chatter comes from Marc Stein of the New York Times. He wrote on Tuesday about the Denver Nuggets having a "longstanding fondness" for Love. "Would I be surprised," Drew asked when the conversation of Cleveland trading Love came up following Thursday's practice. "As far as trades are concerned, I understand the nature of this business. Anybody can be traded. I've been in this league long enough where I've seen that happen. I think any deal that makes sense for any team, sure, they'll be willing to pull the trigger. But that's just the nature of our business.
"Around this time is always an exciting time because you start hearing names floating around, all the possibilities and the probables and the what ifs and 99 percent of the time none of it happens. Trade deadline time is always, as a player you get a little antsy. When I played, I got a little antsy because there was always the possibility. That's just how the business is, that deadline, people get excited, things start floating around and that's just how it is."
Denver has maintained a longstanding fondness for Love, which makes you wonder if the Nuggets will be tempted to make a win-now play for the All-Star forward amid their wholly unexpected rise to the top of the West.
Front-office executives don’t expect Love to garner any strong offers until he actually gets back on the court and shows he can live up to his salary by being a featured scorer. Love is 30 and didn’t score efficiently through his first four games this season before suffering his toe injury. Love shot only 11-for-23 on shots inside the restricted area, 3-for-18 from midrange, and 7-for-24 from 3—totaling just a measly 0.86 points per possession.
The Cavs aren't interested in trading Kevin Love unless they get blown away by an offer. They signed him to a lucrative extension this off-season and it wasn't a deal solely about this year. They want him around for the long haul, when Collin Sexton is more mature, when other youngsters are added and the vision comes into focus.
Love, who is 30 and has missed at least 20 games due to injury in the last three seasons, wants to play. Like the rest of the team’s veterans, he was upset by the turn in direction of the franchise and spent some extended time away for the first few weeks following surgery, but wants to stay in Cleveland and has not asked for a trade. However, he sees a scenario in which he could be traded, if the Cavs wanted and were able to acquire a package of picks, younger players and tradeable contracts.
Cavs officials, speaking on background, said there has been no discussion of trading Love and they want him to be on the court with rookie Collin Sexton. Rival league executives point to Love’s contract — he’s making $24.2 million this season — and his injuries as roadblocks to him being moved.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN, while on an appearance on The Really Big Show on ESPN 850 WKNR with Tony Rizzo, Aaron Goldhammer and Eric Williams, said the reeling Cavaliers (1-10) could indeed find a market for the five-time All-Star at the league’s Feb. 7 trade deadline, should he be healthy. Love underwent surgery on his left foot Nov. 2 and according to the team, will be re-evaluated in six weeks. “If they wanted to trade him, they could,” Windhorst said. Even coming off surgery? “Yes. Absolutely. There is interest in Kevin Love in this league,” Windhorst said. “Would it be the best time to trade him? I don’t believe so, no. I don’t believe you could get your best value then.”
“I’ve talked to general managers out there who are interested in trading for Kevin Love, right now,” Windhorst said. “Maybe not this moment, but they maintain in trading for him this season, if he’s healthy. “The Cavs would be able to get pieces for him. I don’t necessarily think they’d be great pieces. When you have a guy under a $100 million contract who is injured, you worry about whether you’d have to ‘incentivize’… it’s what’s known as ‘incentivizing’ where you’d have to add something to the deal like a draft pick or something to sweeten the pot for a team to the player off your hands.”
Lowe: "I will tell you, I predicted in my 37 random, wild, crazy predictions column that they trade Kevin Love, or at least try to. I've talked to dozens of people around the league, when I see people at games, I talk to them about many topics including this. I will say, I'm almost surprised at how strongly the consensus is that he's borderline untradable at that [contract] number. I hear that from everyone I talk to."
What are the chances Kevin Love gets dealt. Chris Fedor: "It didn’t take long for this question to come, huh? First, Kevin Love can’t legally be traded until the end of January -- six months from the date of his contract extension. Any calls for him to be dealt now, in hopes the team will quickly go into tank mode, are futile. It would take a lot for the Cavs to get to that point anyway. They have spoken for months about Love’s importance. He is the team’s best player and bona fide leader. He's also the focal point of the offense, a guy who helps lift pressure off Collin Sexton and some of the other younger players so they don't have to garner the full attention from opposing defenses."
What are the chances Kevin Love gets dealt. Chris Fedor: "For the Cavs to even consider moving the five-time All-Star, they would have to be blown away. And it's hard to envision another team being that enamored with Love. Not only is he off to an inefficient start, but he's been dealing with nagging soreness in his left foot for nearly a month. Given his long history of injuries and his age (30), this latest ailment doesn't help. Nor does his contract. ... This is the NBA. You never say never. The Cavs may very well be unable to recover from this slow start. It's possible that they stay near the bottom of the standings all season. But however this goes in the next few months, Love is down the list of players they’d want to deal. Untouchables? For the right player, I’m not sure there are any."
With that in mind, keep an eye on Kevin Love as the potential first major trade chip to be moved in the non-Jimmy Butler category. Yes, Love signed a long-term extension with Cleveland this summer. But as Blake Griffin showed last year, that just means he could be more attractive to another team as a trade chip.
Zach Lowe: Obligatory reminder Cavs cannot trade Love until 6 months after the date he signed his extension. They owe a first-round pick to the Hawks already. Not sure how they get a Butler deal done, but the NBA always surprises.
Scout's Take: "Oh, God, I didn't like it. $30 million for Kevin Love? I like Kevin, but he doesn't have LeBron anymore, and he's going to have to carry the load. He'll be back like [he was in] Minnesota, getting big numbers on a bad team. He might get 20 rebounds a game because they'll miss a lot. He'll definitely be one of the leading rebounders this season. "I'd trade him with that contract and try to get assets. Five years at $30 million a year? I wouldn't want him at that. If he were making $21 million, $22 million or even $23 million, sure, but not $30 million. That's a max player. He's not a max player. He's not a franchise player; he's probably the third guy on a really good playoff team. I doubt he would have gotten that contract from anyone else. He's a really good player, but I don't like it for $30 million."
Marc Stein: From @Albert Nahmad on @Kevin Love: Love’s four-year, $120M extension, starting in 2019-20, is $9.7M less than his four-year, $129.7M max extension (and far under the five-year, $221M max contract he theoretically could sign next summer). Love can’t be traded for six months.
Joe Vardon: "I believe that if the correct market were there for Kevin Love, I think [the Cavaliers] would be more aggressive to move him. But maybe there isn't a market for him now - certainly there isn't to what they think is worth trading him."
Joe Vardon: "[Speaking of] behind the scenes, I listed off the names of people that were out there in Vegas - and there are other people... who were out there whose names I didn't mention - and every indication that you got when talking to all these people is that this is the M.O. - the [Cavaliers] front office has communicated to all their players that they intend to compete this year."
Joe Vardon: "They've told Kevin Love that they don't plan to trade him and there's been discussions with JR Smith and even Kyle Korver, who virtually everyone has circled as a trade candidate, getting them ready to come back to camp. They certainly could move one or more of those guys (I certainly don't see a move for Kevin right now), and yeah, it really seems like this is what has been communicated to all the players involved, that they're gonna try this out."
Q: Where does Kevin Love end up? He's from Oregon, went to college in Los Angeles and works out in Park City, Utah. Those could all be interesting destinations. What would be best for him? — Elliot Morris (Salt Lake City) Marc STEIN: The Cavaliers have been adamant that they’re not trading Love. This can be easily dismissed as posturing designed to convince interested suitors to step up their trade offers, but I tend to believe it. At least in the short term.
I talked to a well-known NBA executive about what the Cavs will do with their All-Star forward now that LeBron James has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. "Unless they get blown away by an offer, I think they'll open the season with Love," said the executive.
The Cave are rebuilding. So why not just deal Love right now? He turns 30 on Sept. 7. "Because I think he'll be more in demand during the season by the trading deadline," said the executive. "Kevin could have a very good year for the Cavs being the focal point of the offense. He is a talented player."
I talked to a well-known NBA executive about what the Cavs will do with their All-Star forward now that LeBron James has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. "Unless they get blown away by an offer, I think they'll open the season with Love," said the executive.
Love is in the final season of his $24 million contract. He has a player option of $25.6 million in 2019-2020. Unless Love suffers a cataclysmic injury, odds are he'll skip the player option and become a free agent in the summer of 2019. The Cave are rebuilding. So why not just deal Love right now? He turns 30 on Sept. 7. "Because I think he'll be more in demand during the season by the trading deadline," said the executive. "Kevin could have a very good year for the Cavs being the focal point of the offense. He is a talented player."
The executive said Love could be very appealing to a team needing a star to make the playoffs...or advance deeper in the post-season. That's especially true in the Eastern Conference, where more teams have post-season dreams since James went West to the Lakers. "The only downside would be if Love had a major injury," said the executive.
On Friday, Cavs general manager Koby Altman reaffirmed what team sources had said for weeks -- that the team does not intend to trade Kevin Love and try to lose this season as part of a hard rebuild without James. Lue, you may imagine, likes to hear that. "It feels good just to know that we still have a chance to be competitive," he said, adding: "We're not tanking and we're not trying to throw away games to get a draft pick or nothing like that."
Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman said he doesn't think trading Kevin Love "makes us better" now that LeBron James is gone, and laid out his case Friday against tanking.
"Kevin is an All-Star and you don't get better by moving Kevin," Altman said. "Kevin's been incredible for us for four years and he wants to be here, and to me that's a big part for guys that are here and the guys that we're gonna acquire, is that they want to be here and be a part of this new chapter and culture that we're creating."
The first roster decision will be determining Kevin Love’s future. He has one year left of team control, and despite the Cavs’ insistence they aren’t interested in trading him, multiple sources around the league have told The Athletic the Cavs are indeed shopping him.
Sources re-affirmed that position on Monday, for instance holding to the organizational line that Kevin Love is not on the trading block. Love is a five-time All-Star with two years and about $50 million left on his contract; pundits outside the organization believe he should be moved for younger, cheaper players and picks.
Zach Lowe: "What happens to Kevin Love now?" Brian Windhorst: "I investigated this a couple of days ago because I knew it was coming: the Cavs have told Kevin they don't intent to trade him. I think at this point, Kevin is fine with that because he's got one year left [on his deal] and then he's got an opt-out."
They’re certainly no longer championship contenders. Despite insistence from the organization that they are not interested in trading Love, multiple sources from around the league insist they are indeed open to moving him. It makes perfect sense to deal him now.
Five-time All-Star Kevin Love remains in the Cavaliers’ plans even if LeBron James elects to leave Cleveland for the second time when free agency opens at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
But should four-time league Most Valuable Player James depart, the Cavs intend to remain competitive and believe Love can lead a talented roster of veterans and up-and-coming young players. “The plan is not to go backwards,” one source said. That strategy would seemingly rule out major moves, such as trading draftee Collin Sexton, without knowing James’ intention for next season.
The Cavaliers do not intend to trade Kevin Love if they lose LeBron James in free agency this summer, and would rather try to make the playoffs than immediately begin rebuilding without their iconic star. Sources told cleveland.com this week that the Cavs would not trade Love, a five-time All-Star who is owed about $50 million over the next two seasons, if James leaves as a free agent. Sources say James is strongly considering joining the Los Angeles Lakers. "There is no reason to go backwards," one source said, describing the Cavs' situation.
If James does return to the Cavs, or signals to them that he wants to, no one on the roster would be untouchable from a trade perspective. Cleveland wants to develop its young talent -- including rookie point guard Collin Sexton -- but wouldn't pass up the right opportunity to add an established veteran with James to improve their chances of reaching another Finals, sources indicated.
John Gambadoro: There is no truth to the absurd rumors of the Suns making a blockbuster trade for Kevin Love with Cleveland. Nothing there.
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.
Sagar Trika: Woj: Cleveland would love to package Kevin Love + #8 and get something on draft night, but that package likely won't get them the star player they're hoping for. Notes Kevin Love's value is down and the Brooklyn first round pick is not as good as Cleveland had expected.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Cavaliers will make Love available in trade talks if James leaves Cleveland. "They fully make Kevin Love available," Windhorst said. "I bet they would look for a first-round pick in that trade. He's on the last year of a deal, so they don't want to take on money."
If LeBron James isn't on the Cleveland Cavaliers next season, there's a good chance Kevin Love won't be either. As ESPN's Brian Windhorst explained on The Hoop Collective (h/t RealGM), no current players are guaranteed spots if James decides to decline his player option for 2018-19. "They start over," Windhorst said of the Cavaliers. "They fully make Kevin Love available. I bet they would look for a first-round pick in that trade. He's on the last year of a deal, so they don't want to take on money."
"Yeah, I mean, I'd hope so," Love said in response about if he expects to be back in Cleveland. "I've always said that. I always wanted to be here. Always wanted to win here. But as you know, it's probably going to come up. It always does. It's also good to be wanted. But at the same time, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. We just don't know.
"My name has always come up and will always continue to come up in trade rumors," Love said. "I guess it's good to be wanted. But at the same time, I've enjoyed being here. I've enjoyed every year competing for a championship. ...We're looking for another run this year. But I don't think that stuff will ever stop. And that's OK. I mean I've come to come to terms with it and, you know, whatever happens happens, but for now I just want to try to win."
Tony Jones: Kevin love isn't coming to the jazz. The cavs haven't made him available to trade twitter.com/gallimoresean/…
A source with knowledge of the Blazers' deadline thinking told The Oregonian/OregonLive that McCollum is not -- and never will be -- going anywhere, even though his name has been attached to rumors involving Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers. That stance echoes past comments from Olshey, who has labeled his dynamic shooting guard off limits to interested parties.
The Cavs need youth, athleticism and defense. Clipper DeAndre Jordan has been mentioned, but he provides rim protection, not the on-ball defense the Cavs need. The loss of Kevin Love to a broken hand damages on multiple fronts. “Love was their guy that they could have made a big deal with,” one rival exec said, noting the other gem on the Cavs’ shelf — the Nets first-rounder acquired through Boston. “They don’t want to come off the Brooklyn pick, but who else would you trade for?”
Kevin Love, who will make $24.1 million next year, has a $25.6 million option for 2019-20. League sources believe the Cavs would try to move Love without James here, but no team sources have confirmed it.
Marc Stein: I was told adamantly this week that [the Cavaliers] were not going to move [Kevin Love]. Because I'd heard that they were open to it, and that they were looking at that dramatic of a restructuring if necessary. But when I posed it to people in the know there, I was shut down pretty vociferously. And now that the injury has occured, I don't think we're ever really gonna know the truth, because he becomes a lot harder to trade now that he can't play for another six weeks.
According to CBS Sports NBA analyst Raja Bell, a former Cavaliers executive, during Love's first year he was "as much of an outcast as you can be" and they even had a huge trade for him on the table. Bell recalled all of this in a discussion about Love on the Off The Bench with Kanell and Bell podcast.
Raja Bell: "When I was in Cleveland. Kevin Love was as much of an outcast as you can be on a team. It's the dynamic of being in a locker room that's just culturally a lot different than you. I say that and I think everybody understands black and white kind of deal.”
Raja Bell: “There was an element of that when I was in Cleveland. They figured that out, they put it to bed. LeBron went to L.A. had these conversations with Kevin Love, but it was so bad that first year that I was on a phone call with Dan Gilbert and our whole brass and we had a big deal on the table to move Kevin Love in the first year and I was like 'Move him' not because I didn't think he was a good player. I just couldn't see them figuring out how to work as people together."”
ESPN Cleveland: Windhorst: I want to make this 100% clear- I have not heard one, single word of Kevin Love being traded. But, if I were Kevin Love- I would question my future in Cleveland and call my agent about getting me out of here. #Cavs
"I think the pressure gets pretty high," said a rival team executive. "If it's not working, they should either move the [Nets] pick or Love or LeBron. Those should all be on the table."
It wasn't hypothetical swaps for Carmelo Anthony -- trades that the Cavs never seriously considered, according to sources. This time, Love's name was floated out there in blockbuster deals for Paul George, who eventually went to Oklahoma City. "I don't know if numb is the word," Love said. "Some of the things are laughable. I know this is our job and this is our business and this is what we do for a living. But at the end of the day it's a business. We've seen guys on several teams and throughout the course of history of the game, maybe a coach or a GM or a certain player has sworn that either they're going to keep him or they're going to sign this player, free agency and they get a better deal. It's the better offer theory.
"I just take it with a grain of salt at this point and know that wherever I am, I want to be here, it's well-documented, I want to compete for a championship. But at the end of the day I know that it's a business and anything can happen at any given moment. I've just got to keep my head down and keep working and keep my damn mouth shut and go out there and try and perform."
Kevin Love uses humor to shield himself from the incessant trade rumors that he's been forced to accept. So once again, just like every other spent with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Love had an entertaining summer. "Groundhog's Day," he said with a smile when asked about how he processed the latest round of speculation.
The Cavs have contemplated trading Love off and on almost since that series, though they have no plans to do so right now, sources say. (Love does not have much standalone trade value.) They nearly flipped him for Paul George in a three-team trade in late June. It sometimes seems remarkable Love has survived this long in Cleveland, and that he outlasted Irving. Love sulked during much of the 2015-16 season. He absorbed LeBron's passive-aggressive tweets, the dirty looks after botched rotations on defense. It would not have been surprising had the Cavs lost him sometime in the winter of 2016.
The addition of Crowder also could make Love expendable, allowing Cleveland to dangle either the All-Star stretch forward, the Brooklyn pick -- or both -- on the market in February to make a push to revamp the roster before the postseason.
There are any number of deals that could transpire. A league source said perhaps the best Cleveland could do would be something with Boston, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and multiple first-round picks, and then use Thomas to trade for a different piece (wait a minute, didn't I just say I wouldn't do specific scenarios?). The Knicks don't want Kevin Love, so your proposal isn't happening.
Brian Windhorst: The Cavs have had all kind of talks with the Jazz over Melo deal, over Kevin Love deal. They've been talking to Jazz on and off for months.
Brian Windhorst: I've heard permutations of deals with the Jazz as the third team. Let's put it this way, it would be easier if Boris Diaw was still there, if we had a beautiful contract to use on a trade. Had the Cavs moved Kevin Love, they would have been interested in acquiring Derrick Favors as part of a trade.
Sirius XM NBA: "Kevin is a big part of what we do. I talk to Kevin and we're not worried about the outside noise." -Tyronn Lue on #Cavs keeping Kevin Love
TJ McBride: According to @Zach Lowe, the Denver Nuggets offered Gary Harris, Trey Lyles, and a protected 1st round pick to get Kevin Love. pic.twitter.com/ZjfHSk75TP
Hell-bent as he is on signing with the Lakers, George - according to a person with knowledge of his situation - is also the kind of prudent professional who won’t close a window of opportunity prematurely. So if the Cavs can convince Pritchard to either take on four-time All-Star forward Kevin Love or send him to a third team in exchange for more suitable assets, then George will play his heart out alongside LeBron James and remain open to the idea of re-signing next summer if James were also to return (or, perhaps, George could leave for Los Angeles with James at his side).
One of the Cavaliers' plans to pry Paul George away from the Indiana Pacers was to trade Kevin Love to the Denver Nuggets, sources confirmed to cleveland.com. As first reported by ESPN, the Cavs engaged the Nuggets as a possible third team to facilitate a trade for the All-Star George on draft night, but a source said the discussion was "nothing serious" and "very unlikely" to happen now.
Sources told ESPN that the Cavaliers engaged in serious three-way trade discussions leading up to the NBA draft on a deal that would have brought them George from the Indiana Pacers and landed Kevin Love, George's fellow Eastern Conference All-Star, with the Denver Nuggets.
The three teams ultimately could not agree to a final trade construction in time to complete a deal on draft night Thursday, but sources say the Cavaliers won't abandon their trade pursuit of George.
Joe Vardon: I can confirm the Cavs did hold discussions to send Love to DEN and get PG from Indiana, on draft night. Source says "nothing serious"
The Nuggets, meanwhile, have made upgrading at power forward one of their offseason priorities, which is why they covet Love. Denver, according to sources, also hopes to crash the list of suitors for Los Angeles Clippers unrestricted free agent Blake Griffin and Atlanta Hawks unrestricted free agent Paul Millsap.
I'm told the Indiana Pacers don't want Kevin Love, at least not right now. Their goal is young players and draft picks. They definitely want to trade Paul George. It would be a shock if they open the season with him on the roster. Indiana knows George will leave via free agency in the summer of 2018.
Love has been mentioned for the past two seasons in trade rumors involving New York's Carmelo Anthony. Griffin never wanted to trade Love for Anthony, and there has been no indication the Cavs are pursuing such a deal now.
In either case, a third team would be involved and would take All-Star forward Kevin Love in exchange for the mix of picks and role players the Bulls and Pacers seek to rebuild in the event they choose to deal their franchise player.
It's believed that the Cavaliers, by offering All-Star forward Kevin Love, could recruit a third team that would supply the sort of young players and/or draft picks sure to be more appealing to Chicago than the limited trade assets on Cleveland's roster.
One league source told ESPN's Dave McMenamin, meanwhile, that the Cavaliers have already been offered George in a multi-team trade scenario that would cost them Love and involve an unnamed third team.
To part with either the 25-year-old Irving or the 28-year-old Love, both coming off All-Star seasons and on relatively economical long-term deals, without any verbal commitment from George that he planned to stay in Cleveland beyond 2018 would be "hard" to agree to, one source familiar with the Cavs' thinking told ESPN.
How committed are the Cavs to Kevin Love going forward? Brian Windhorst: I think Griff [David Griffin] is probably pretty committed but it might not be his decision even if he's back.
Dan Patrick Show: If the #Cavs get swept, @ChrisBHaynes thinks they'll trade Kevin Love. Thoughts?
"Pins and needles. That's why I'm saying. Let's put it this way: if on day one next year it's Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, and Isaiah Thomas, the Cavs will be like 'okay, that's going to be a challenge.' If it's Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and Jimmy Butler, the Cavs might be out there saying 'we may have to trade Kevin Love.'"
Anthony holds a no-trade clause and it's unclear he would waive it (he has said he wants to stay in New York). Also, his salary is so high the Cavs would need to part with several roster players and likely find a third team. They have said privately they do not intend to trade the injured Kevin Love to the Knicks for Anthony.
Sources told Stein and Shelburne the Cavaliers maintain an interest in Anthony, but only if a deal can be struck without the Cavs surrendering Love. Anthony has a no-trade clause and would need to waive it before any deal can be consummated.
