The Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves appear to have a deal set for Kevin Love and the trade is likely to go down later in August and now the head coach of Andrew Wiggins from Kansas says that the star wants to go to the Wolves now with Anthony Bennett, as he feels that gives him a better chance to be a pro rather than playing alongside LeBron James and getting thrown into the fire right away and he also can build something on his own.
Love has been mentioned in trade talks since before the NBA draft and the first team to get deep before the Cavaliers was the Golden State Warriors. Cleveland appears to have the deal set and while things can't go down until the end of August, it likely will include those two teams and possibly a third in the Philadelphia 76ers, as they have cap space to absorb some contracts from Minnesota.
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.
Love is coming off of an excellent season after averaging 25 points and 12 rebounds and he also got some MVP votes despite the fact that his team had a losing record. Love made it clear that he wasn't signing an extension and wanted to test the market in free agency, so Minnesota felt they had no choice but to trade him. Love said it pained him that he had not made the playoffs yet in his career and now he is nearly guaranteed that with LeBron in Cleveland.
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.
The Chicago Bulls also jumped into things late and for a moment it looked like they might pull off the deal over the Cavaliers. The Bulls offered Taj Gibson along with Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic but the Wolves felt the upside of Wiggins was the better deal.
