Cavs, Wolves worried NBA could block Kevin Love trade

Nov 4, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love (42) and Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson (13) at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland won 93-92. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 4, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love (42) and Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson (13) at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland won 93-92. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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The chances of the NBA blocking the proposed trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves that would send Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota with Kevin Love heading to Cleveland is relatively minimal.

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To do such the league would have to have proof that the teams broke rules and that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Love had held contractual discussions while he was a member of another franchise. Simply put, that would be extremely difficult to do without a paper trail.

That said, both teams are apparently concerned the NBA could still block the deal according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports.

Asked by a reader if the deal could still fall apart, Amico gave the following response.

"I believe it is a concern for both teams, or Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein wouldn’t have reported it. You can certainly trust Windy on that stuff. That said, I don’t think the NBA would be able to prove that, without a shadow of a doubt, the Cavs and Kevin Love reached a contract before the trade became official. I said chances the trade is blocked are very VERY slim."

It wouldn’t be unprecedented for the league to step in and prevent a trade from going down, though as Amico notes it’s still very unlikely that they would. Still, both the Cavaliers and Timberwolves have reason to be concerned because as previously noted from scribes around the league, there likely was some ‘illegal’ talks going on.

However, if there’s no proof, hard to do much more than give each team a slap on the wrist.