Three possible Kevin Love trades for a Cavaliers rebuild if LeBron leaves
With LeBron James mulling his future, the Cleveland Cavaliers must do the same. If James leaves, here are three ways they can maximize their rebuild with the last remaining asset: Kevin Love.
Kevin Love didn’t ask for this. He didn’t ask to be traded for the Cavaliers when LeBron James came home. He didn’t ask to be the center of trade rumors with Klay Thompson or the center of so much scrutiny playing on the Cavs. Whether LeBron stays in Cleveland or takes his talents to Long Beach, the Cavaliers have a decision to make on the future of the franchise and that really only means one thing: What do they do with Love?
The answer, in either case, could be to deal him. If LeBron chooses to stay, the package could be for players who can help Cleveland get back to the NBA Finals. A rebuild awaits if James chooses the exit, which should lead the Cavs toward young players and expiring contracts, particularly with seemingly half the league looking for a contract in the summer of 2019.
Here are three deals to jumpstart a rebuild in Cleveland, as James appears likely to leave Ohio.
The Bucks Trade
This scenario requires a sign-and-trade with Jabari Parker, the centerpiece young player in the deal. Parker, a Chicago kid who has said he’d like to stay in the Midwest, has injury red flags but was a borderline All-Star before this latest ACL tear.
The Cavaliers would also get a former lottery pick big in Maker who still possesses upside, plus brings the floor spacing at the center position Tristan Thompson doesn’t. His presence works toward modernizing this team. Bledsoe amounts to a salary dump for the Bucks, but only has one year remaining on his deal and could be a trade chip for the Cavs down the line. If not, he’s an expiring contract and gives them financial freedom in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Bucks add shooting to a team around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Love’s inability to protect the rim wouldn’t hurt Milwaukee the same way it hurt the Cavs because Giannis is one of the best help defenders in basketball. Love can rebound, space the floor and run the second-team offense as well as get buckets in crunch time with defenses focused on Giannis. Korver’s appeal would be obvious as a spot-up shooter, and at 37 simply shouldn’t appeal to a rebuilding team.
The Blazers Trade
From a salary perspective, a Love-McCollum trade works straight up, but it’s hard to imagine the Blazers pulling the trigger on a deal like that. To sweeten the pot, the Cavs throw in an active, rim-running big in Nance and a shooter in Korver to make the salaries work. In addition, the Blazers get off the Leonard contract.
The wonky fit here illustrates just out difficult it might be for the Cavaliers to find a trade partner for Love and how hamstrung they are financially by bad deals given to Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and now George Hill via trade. That chunk of basically dead money makes it much harder to absorb contracts to get back something of value for Love.
This feels like reshuffling deck chairs on the Titanic for each team, but the Blazers can’t keep running it back with CJ and Damian Lillard and expect different results. Adding Love wouldn’t fix the defensive deficiencies of their top two stars, but it would alleviate ball handling traffic jams and positional redundancies.
Plus, Lillard-Love pick-and-rolls would be deadly and a McCollum/Sexton backcourt makes much more sense on both ends for the Cavs. It’s not a huge difference talent or salary wise, but the pieces fit more congruently.
The Blockbuster Trade
The pièce de résistance. It would take an unlikely trade clause waiver from Carmelo to make it work and some financial funny business to get the contracts right, but if the Cavaliers and Thunder know they’re losing their players anyway, they could coalesce to get compensation that benefits multiple parties.
LeBron and George can get bigger contracts in sign-and-trade scenarios. The Thunder get off the Carmelo contract while getting Love in return, though they would have to take Deng’s salary as well. And the Cavs get the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and potential new face of their franchise. Ball can put butts in the seats at the Q, plus fits beautifully next to Collin Sexton who can handle scoring and defending responsibilities in the backcourt.
One reason Carmelo might be willing to waive his no-trade clause could be a potential buyout in OKC, whereas he’d likely be able to get his full boat contract for 2018 and still be a free agent in 2019. Would he be willing to suffer in Cleveland for a season if it means a couple extra million? He’s shown the money matters more than winning to him in the past (and it’s hard to blame him).
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The lesson of the last few years should be clear by now to teams with stars they know they’re losing — to facilitate their departures, make sure you get compensated. And if you’re the Thunder/Cavs, make sure the remind your stars you can sign them for bigger contracts to help facilitate a deal to their preferred destination. This isn’t going to happen, but damn if it isn’t fun to think about.