NBA Trade Deadline 2020: One trade every team should make

Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love for the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon and D.J. Augustin

Reason for Cleveland: It was time for Cleveland to trade Kevin Love yesterday. He’s potentially unhappy with his teammates, certainly his coach, and most definitely his general manager. The best you can get for an extremely well-paid big man who may or may not be a star is either good young talent or draft consideration, but probably not both. Cleveland could be offered more draft picks by teams like the Portland Trail Blazers, but with any team that receives Love unlikely to end up picking in the lottery, Aaron Gordon may be the best available asset. He’s a very good young player who can do plenty of positive things, especially on the defensive end. The Cavs would buy a chance to find out if he can be more. If he can, this trade would be a steal.

Reason for Orlando: Love is in the middle of a down year, not in terms of his numbers, but just in terms of how good the Cavs are when he’s on the floor. That could be attributable to his focus while unhappy in Cleveland. His defense, especially, can wane. But Love’s shooting numbers remain solid, and he’s never been as bad a defender as believed. He could help any team, especially one that badly needs offensive punch. When Jonathan Isaac is healthy next year, the Magic would start Isaac, Love and Nikola Vucevic, and that is a monstrous lineup that has plenty of shooting, passing and offensive chops. The Magic would be an incredibly dangerous team with Love spotting up and dishing from the high post. Losing Augustin would also hurt, especially if the team wants a steady hand behind Markelle Fultz, but journeyman point guards aren’t hard to find, and Augustin may not be on the team next year anyway. This trade is all about future years for Orlando, as this one went down the drain the second Isaac lost his season to injury.