The Kevin Love trade rumors are basically at an end, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves have a handshake deal in place for the trade with Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett and there is a chance that the Wolves also could try and snag Thaddeus Young if he is traded in a three team deal with the Philadelphia 76ers as part of this move with the Cavs.
According to Pro Basketball Talk and ESPN, the two sides have a handshake deal on the trade, as they cannot officially make a move until later in August, as Wiggins cannot be traded 30 days after signing his rookie contract. Reports also have the Wolves looking at Thaddeus Young as a main option for the team to replace Love with and that could come in a three team deal as the details get worked out.
Earlier in the summer and around the NBA trade deadline this past season, teams like the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers were all interested in the Minnesota Timberwolves star, but now it's all Cavaliers. From earlier in the offseason, there was plenty of news, but now it's the Cavaliers looking to get Love over all the other teams.
According to ESPN.com reporter Marc Stein, The Bulls, Knicks, Lakers, Houston Rockets and Celtics all made calls to the Timberwolves this summer to gauge interest about a Love deal and while that may not go down, those calls may lay the groundwork for a deal next year in February at the actual NBA trade deadline.
The Timberwolves are coming off another season after they missed the playoffs and while the team is hoping to keep Love in the fold, he may not want to deal with toiling away in Minnesota for much longer. The Houston Rockets have a number of options they can look at this summer to build their roster and after missing on Carmelo Anthony they could look at a trade for Love or Rajon Rondo. Howard and Anthony dealt with immense trade speculation leading up to their eventual moves and that will continue for Love until a decision is made by the Wolves on whether to trade him or not and it looks like it has.
The NY Knicks kept Carmelo Anthony and while they can offer him the most years and the max amount of dollars, they are coming into things after a terrible season and after firing their head coach in Mike Woodson. Phil Jackson is in the fold, but that may not be enough this time around, as he is getting to his 30th birthday and has not yet won a championship and it's clear that the Bulls and Rockets are better constructed to win than the Knicks, but Melo opted to stay.
The Rockets could go after Anthony as the extra piece to join Dwight Howard and James Harden, but to do that they will have to clear some cap space and that means Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin will likely have to get traded. Asik and Lin both are getting paid a ton of money and that could make a trade harder to pull off, but both are on expiring deals and those are always valuable for teams looking to clear space in the future. The Bulls were also in the mix after they cleared out Carlos Boozer's cap space.