The Kevin Love trade is now basically done with the Cleveland Cavaliers pulling off the deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett along with a first round pick and the Wolves may pull a three team deal with the Philadelphia 76ers for Thaddeus Young, as they would like to replace Love after he joins up with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
The Love deal has had rumors and developments all summer and after the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls made strong pushes, it was the Cavaliers that got it done and it came perhaps with a bit of prodding from their returning son in LeBron James. According to ESPN.com, the Love deal has been agreed to between the two teams, but it can't happen for two more weeks after Wiggins signed his rookie deal, meaning he can't be traded for 30 days and now the clock is moving towards a deal.
Love is coming off of one of his best overall seasons and he made it clear this year that he was looking to test the free agent market. Love said that it pained him that he hadn't made the playoffs in his six year career and now he likely is going to a team that is the favorites for the eastern conference and with him in the fold, the NBA title.
The Golden State Warriors were the first team in deep talks with the Timberwolves about Love and that came ahead of the NBA draft and also after that for a bit. The Wolves wanted Klay Thompson in any deal from Golden State, but the team was reluctant to include him in their package. The team offered David Lee and Harrison Barnes along with a draft pick most likely in their package, but that wasn't enough.
The Warriors were reluctant to give up Thompson since it would break up their backcourt duo with Stephen Curry and that would have been a big hit with Steve Kerr coming in to take over as head coach. The team was also concerned that trading Thompson would leave Curry exposed in defense since Thompson is a very good defender and while they really wanted to get Love, clearly they weren't willing to give up Klay to do it.
The Chicago Bulls made a late push for Love and made a solid offer to challenge their division rivals, but the Wolves felt it wasn't as good as the package from Cleveland. The Bulls offered Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic in their deal for Love but Minnesota liked the potential of Wiggins over those other players.
The Cavaliers now have a strong mix of veterans and young players with Love coming in, as they also signed James Jones and Mike Miller. LeBron should feel very comfortable with this team and now they have some solid young talent like Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving along with Tristan Thompson and adding Love to that mix could mean the first championship in decades for the city of Cleveland. The trade is going to go through eventually and while it took a while, the Cavs are thrilled.
