NBA Rumors: 5 replacements for Kevin Love in Cleveland

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Apr 3, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins (22) dribbles in the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Target Center. The Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 88-78. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

. Small Forward. Minnesota Timberwolves. Andrew Wiggins. 2. player. 86

In hindsight, maybe the Cavaliers shouldn’t have traded Wiggins to Minnesota for Love. That’s because Wiggins is exactly the player Cleveland would need to bring a championship to Northeast Ohio.

Griffin traded away Wiggins’ draft rights to the Timberwolves for Love shortly after James’ return to the Cavaliers organization in 2014 NBA free agency. The thought behind the trade was that Wiggins was a one-and-done player with the Kansas Jayhawks and would still need a few years to emerge as the star that James would need to bring a championship home to Cleveland.

Now that Wiggins is a huge part of the Timberwolves’ turnaround in Minnesota in his early 20s, he could have been the All-Star James would have hoped Love could have been when pushing for that high-profile trade.

The challenge with Wiggins would be in sharing the rock, as he, James, and Irving all display ball-dominant tendencies while on offense. While James looks to distribute and Irving sometimes does, Wiggins wants to score exclusively.

That being said, that’s 20+ points per game that Cleveland could have had from their third wheel on the wing if they had just rode it out with Wiggins. He’s still young and could grow into a solid three-point shooter and on-ball defender. Oh, what could have been…

Next: 1. Andre Iguodala.

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