The Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves are close to a Kevin Love trade for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett and as that goes on, the Wolves are targeting Thaddeus Young with the 76ers, while the Cavs are looking to sign Shawn Marion and Ray Allen as free agents to join LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
According to ESPN.com, the trade cannot be finalized until later in August and that is due to the fact that Wiggins cannot be traded 30 days after he signed his rookie deal. That will go up on August 23, so around that date the teams will likely pull off the trade. There have been other reports that have the Wolves targeting Thaddeus Young as a replacement for Love and in that deal they would consider sending Anthony Bennett in exchange for Young.
Pro Basketball Talk reports that the deal is not a foregone conclusion and there is a chance that another deal could be worked out, or the Wolves may keep Bennett. Love is definitely getting moved and all reports have the trade to the Cavaliers all but official now. Reports say that the Bennett deal may not end up happening depending on what the Sixers plan on doing and whether the Wolves want to keep Bennett, as he was once a number one overall pick.
The Love trade rumors have been going on since last year and things really heated up around the time of the draft, as the Golden State Warriors were deep in talks for a while. The team did not want to give up Klay Thompson and that was not a trade the Warriors wanted to make and they instead gave a package with David Lee and Harrison Barnes. The Wolves really wanted Thompson, but the Warriors wouldn't budge.
The Chicago Bulls also tried to make a move with the Wolves for Love, but they were beaten out by the Cavaliers. The team had a solid offer, but the Cavs was simply better after they added Wiggins. The team proposed Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic and even without this deal they are in good position this season. The team signed Pau Gasol and he was the top free agent for the team and that could give them a huge boost this season.
The NY Knicks also made an offer to the Wolves for Love that they likely knew would get rejected, but hey, they gave it a shot. The Knicks offered Amar'e Stoudemire and Tim Hardaway and they also could have put in Iman Shumpert and now the team knows that the Cavaliers have the deal, but hey, they tried.
