The Kevin Love trade rumors have the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls as the teams in the mix for the Minnesota Timberwolves and names that could move include Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson and ESPN also reports that the Wolves are looking at Thaddeus Young and the 76ers as potential trade partners and now it appears that the Cavs are the last team standing over the Bulls.
According to Pro Basketball Talk and ESPN.com, the Cavaliers deal is not an if anymore, but a when, as Brian Windhorst writes that the Bulls and Warriors are out of talks and now it's about the details. The Wolves want to move Kevin Martin and JJ Barea and they are also interested in acquiring Thaddeus Young from the 76ers. The trade could end up a three team deal to get that done, or it could be a side deal with the Sixers after the deal is completed. The Wolves want to acquire players with non-guaranteed contracts from the Cavs and they also want to offload salary. It's also a question of whether Love will sign or play out his new deal, but the Cavs are not too worried about that.
LeBron James is reportedly excited about getting Love and the main pieces of the deal are Wiggins, Bennett and a first round pick and more could be involved. Love has been the main target in the NBA since the season ended and after numerous teams showed initial interest, it looks to be the Cavaliers and Bulls in the with the Golden State Warriors a distant third. According to ESPN.com reporter Marc Stein, the reason Love pulled out of summer basketball with team USA was due to the trade talk and now the Cavaliers are looking towards the end of August as the time when a deal could get done.
The Cavaliers still appear to be the top team in the mix and that looks even more certain now that Anthony Bennett has been asked to sit out of summer basketball activities. Cleveland has been in the lead for some time over Chicago, but things have had to take a chill pull since Andrew Wiggins was signed to his deal. The Bulls can't trade for a whole after signing Doug McDermott, but sources said to ESPN that the signings should not hinder a deal getting done.
The Cavaliers originally did not out Wiggins in their package, instead offering a combination of Anthony Bennett, Dion Waiters and a future first round pick to Minnesota. The Timberwolves were still talking with the Golden State Warriors at that time and eventually Cleveland relented and put him into the deal instead of Waiters and that could be enough to get it done. The team also acquired some players with non-guaranteed contracts to deal to Minnesota so they can offload cap space in the trade.
The Wolves are looking to offload contracts and moving Kevin Martin and JJ Barea is one way to do that and the team may also look at trading Alexey Shved. The Cavaliers are the last team left and this comes after the Warriors and Bulls also went at Love hard and now it appears the deal just needs time to work out the rest of the details and it will be going down in August.