20 worst NBA Draft trades ever
By John Buhler
12. Kevin Love from Memphis Grizzlies to Minnesota Timberwolves
Kevin Love is now an NBA Champion as a member of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. While his role with Cleveland diminished over time on the Cavaliers’ championship run, he was at one time a top 10 player in the league and one of the better draft day steals of the last decade.
After a great one-and-done freshman season with the UCLA Bruins, Love declared for the 2008 NBA Draft. He would be picked No. 5 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies, but was swiftly shopped to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the USC Trojans’ O.J. Mayo, who went No. 3 to the Timberwolves.
Mayo has become a decent rotational player in the NBA, but without Love’s sound game as a stretch four in pivotal Game 7, Cleveland doesn’t win an NBA Championship. Love still played his best basketball as the star of the Timberwolves as a three-time NBA All-Star.
Though the Timberwolves never made the playoffs with Love on its roster, they were able to swap him in summer 2014 for No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, who is on the cusp of stardom himself. As for Memphis, the Grizzlies could have had either Love or Russell Westbrook in 2008. Either one could have help the Grit N’ Grind era orchestrate championship caliber playoff runs.
Next: 11. Moses Malone from Portland Trail Blazers to Buffalo Braves.