The Cleveland Cavaliers are heading towards a Kevin Love trade being complete and now the team is looking at free agent options and names like Shawn Marion, Ray Allen and Chauncey Billups could be in the mix for LeBron James and company as they try and build a championship contender in Ohio.
The Kevin love trade deal has been agreed to by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves and now Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett will go to the Wolves and Love is set to join LeBron James and Kyrie Irving with the Cavaliers and a first round pick will also move in the deal and as part of the trade, Love has agreed to sign a five year deal as a free agent when he opts out after next season.
Love is coming off of his best season in the NBA and he averaged 25 points and 12 rebounds last year while playing for a bad team. The Wolves felt they had no choice but to make a trade and that was due to the fact that Love said he wanted to test the market and that meant he would be leaving Minnesota. The Wolves actually did a pretty good job of getting value for Love, as the deals for the Magic and the Nuggets for Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony did not have players with the potential of Wiggins.
Love had the chance to opt out of his contract this summer and he was almost guaranteed to do that once the season was over. Minnesota knew this and felt they had to trade Love and now the Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the best forwards in the league and they have the top trio with Love, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. There are also reports from Yahoo that say Kevin Love will sign for five years, $120 million after opting out next summer, but that could be against the NBA rules and that is why it likely will not be on paper and no one will actually admit that it's happening.
Minnesota reportedly wants to trade for Thaddeus Young to try and replace Love in the lineup and there is a possibility they flip Bennett to do it. The Timberwolves are also looking to save salary cap space and that's why the Cavs picked up some nonguaranteed contracts from Utah to deal the team. Minnesota also wants to offload Kevin Martin and JJ Barea and possibly more and that is another reason why Philly could get in on a deal as a three way trade.
The Golden State Warriors were close to a deal with Love, but they didn't want to gives up Klay Thompson to get it done. The Warriors refused to relent on that one parameter and some reports said that Minnesota wanted Thompson over anyone else being offered by other teams. The Warriors offered David Lee and Harrison Barnes to the Timberwolves but that wasn't enough and eventually try dropped out after not wanting to give up Thompson.