Ray Allen is the top free agent left on the market in the NBA and teams like the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards are all looking to sign him and this comes as LeBron James and the Cavs are recruiting Allen to join up after playing with Bron in South Beach.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Chicago Bulls are the latest team to get involved and this comes after the Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as front runners. The Cavs have James back and they would like to sign the veteran, while the Bulls, Wizards, Spurs and Clippers all feel Allen can add value to the team.
Some of this article is a look back on the time leading up the Cavaliers trading for Kevin Love and they have been looking at Ray Allen since then.
The Kevin Love trade went down between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves and the Cavs pulled it off after adding Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett in the deal along with a first round pick and this came as the Golden State Warriors were also in discussions with the Wolves, but they were not willing to trade Klay Thompson and LeBron James pushed the Cavs to make the deal.
The Cavaliers at first were not willing to deal Wiggins, but that changed and reports had the team putting him in the deal with Bennett before it happened. According to ESPN.com, The Cavaliers would have offered Bennett, Wiggins and a first round pick and this came as the Warriors had offered David Lee and Harrison Barnes and they were unwilling to put Klay Thompson in the package. The Cavaliers are east favorites with the deal for Love and the Timberwolves got a nice package too.
The Timberwolves came into the offseason knowing that Love would be a primary target for teams and the Warriors and the Cavaliers were the two that had gone deepest in talks. Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson emerged as targets for the Wolves and that meant the price was very high for Love. Some in the NBA thought Minnesota was trying to drive up the price for Love and was is a smart move considering they likely would have lost him if they didn't trade him. Love signed an extension through 2016 and had an opt out next summer and he has made it clear he wanted to test the market.
Wiggins had been playing well along with Bennett in the summer league and he was the main player the Cavs did not want to put in the initial deal for Love. The Cavs reportedly offered Dion Waiters, Bennett and a first round pick before adding Wiggins and the Wolves may have wanted more than that to get the deal done. Love will be the top player on the 2015 market if he makes it to free agency and Minnesota is getting into a Carmelo Anthony/Dwight Howard situation like the Nuggets and Magic had and they got a better package than those teams.
