The Kevin Love trade is close to being completed and now reports have Thaddeus Young going to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and Alexey Shved and not Anthony Bennett, as those two will go to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Andrew Wiggins trade package, while the 2014 number one overall pick will stay with the Wolves once the Cleveland Cavaliers trade him.
Reports about the Wolves and their interest in Young has been building for a while and there were conflicting reports about whether Minnesota would give up Bennett for Young, but now it looks like it will be going down with Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and Alexey Shved. According to ESPN.com, the Wolves are looking to add Young to help replace Kevin Love once he is traded, as Flip Saunders feels that Young can come in and contribute right away alongside Wiggins. Bennett has a high upside, but Wiggins is considered to be the better talent and while the Sixers wanted him, the Wolves didn't give him up.
The Timberwolves, Cavaliers and Sixers cannot make the deal until Saturday at the earliest and ESPN.com also reports that the Wolves will give up a first round pick along with Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and Alexey Shved to the Sixers. The Wolves are looking to hang on to Bennett and Wiggins as they try to rebuild and a verbal agreement has already been reported by the two sides.
Love came up in trade rumors last season but the Timberwolves were not interested in making a move and now reports are starting to come out regarding Love and what will be going future after the trade. Many expect him to opt out if he gets the chance next summer and now ESPN.com reports that Love could sign a contract extension with Cleveland and that he would be interested in staying long term with LeBron.
Love signed a contract extension with the Timberwolves a couple years ago and they gave him the opt out as incentive to sign and now the team is trading Love. This year the team will try and contend for the playoffs and if they didn't trade Love over the summer, they could have lost him for nothing.
Love hit the Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard territory, as he was nearing free agency and his team had to decide if they wanted to trade him for something or lose him in free agency for nothing. The Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics were also in the mix to trade for Love, as they were two teams that have young talent and enough draft picks that could have made the move enticing enough for Minnesota to say yes to.
The Kevin Love trade rumors had started up early in 2014 and he had some heavy interest at the deadline last season and teams like the Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, NY Knicks and Mavericks all were in the mix for a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
