The Cleveland Cavaliers are days away from the Kevin Love trade going down for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett and now the Timberwolves may look to trade with the Philadelphia 76ers for Thaddeus Young to replace their star and moving Bennett to the Sixers could be the first of many moves for the team this year, as they are also reportedly interested in Amar'e Stoudemire.
According to ESPN.com, the Love deal should be going down around August 23 and right now the trade is for Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins. Some reports have the Wolves looking to flip Bennett for Thaddeus Young to the Sixers, but that has not been confirmed. There also is a chance the deal could turn into a three team trade with the 76ers, but that has not been set either and right now it looks to be Wiggins and Bennett for Love along with some other players to make the money work.
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.
ESPN.com and other outlets report that the deal is basically done and that it will go down once the August 23 deadline hits and that is when Wiggins can be traded. Yahoo Sports and Pro Basketball Talk report that Thaddeus Young also could be part of the deal if it becomes a three team trade, but that is still just speculation at this point. The Wolves wanted Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors, but the team refused to put him in the deal and they have settled on the Cavs after the Chicago Bulls also made a late push.
The Cavaliers originally did not put Andrew Wiggins in the trade, but the Timberwolves wanted him in the package for a deal to get done. Cleveland originally offered Anthony Bennett and Dion Waiters along with a first round pick and eventually they relented and added Wiggins to the package. The trade talk of Love to Cleveland picked up once LeBron James decided to go back to the Cavaliers and now there doesn't seem to be anything in the way of stopping it.
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.