Multiple league sources tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that Kevin Love has likely requested a trade to the Cavaliers. The sources are uncertain if a formal trade request has been made, but are “under the impression” that he has made his feelings known to the Wolves through his agent.
Such a request would certainly alter the trade landscape for the All-Star, whose fate for this season and beyond has been a constant in the rumor mill since informing Minnesota that he would not opt in to his player option and pursue free agency next summer. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press tweets that the elite scorer and rebounder has withdrawn from playing with Team USA this summer due to uncertainty about his situation.
A formal request of this nature would seemingly give the Cavs more leverage in their talks with the Wolves. The main sticking point in talks has been whether or not Cleveland is willing to give up No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins as part of a deal. The Warriors were the early favorites to land Love, and the Bulls have regained momentum in recent days, while the Celtics have all but thrown in the towel. Since LeBron James announced his return to Cleveland, the team went from a longshot to acquire the power forward to a strong possibility, as Love was only open to re-signing with the Cavs once James was in the picture.
And there goes the leverage for the Wolves!
Only one problem with that thought; If Love wants to go to Cleveland, it has to be through trade or take a huge pay cut. So he also has to play along or not get what he wants.
Huh?
he has a contract for 2014-15. Why does he have to take a pay cut? That’s not legal.
If he plays for Minnesota this year and goes to the Cavs as a free agent after the season, what does he have to give up? The Cavs will easily be able to clear cap space to give him a long term max contract.
No, the most they can offer him without acquiring his bird rights is about ten million dollars, give or take based on where the salary cap lies next year. Cleveland has no leverage because this is the only way they get Love.
Sure they have leverage, Love saying he wants to be traded to Cleveland means that any other team that offers to trade for him will only be getting a rental, so why would they give up a package that Minnesota wants. The Cavs can tell Minnesota, our final offer is Bennett, Waiters, two 1st round picks and some random garbage throw in players…take it or leave it.
Leave it and let him walk.
No, this is the great myth this rumor is trying to create.
If Minnesota doesn’t trade him to Cleveland, he can’t go to Cleveland THIS YEAR OR NEXT. He can’t go there as a free agent without taking a ridiculous pay cut. Based on that alone, any team that thinks they are a good situation for Love should trade for him. Because if you trade for him, not only do you have his Bird rights, you’ve also eliminated any possibility of him winding up in Cleveland. Sure, he *could* walk at the end of the year, but the teams involved (Chicago, Golden State) are a lot better options to sign with than the teams that are going to have cap room after this season. There’s almost no chance he doesn’t resign if one of those teams trades for him.
This is the most intelligent comment I have heard. For me the main point is the Cavaliers can win the east without Love. Cleveland should stick with the Bennett offer. It is win win. They get Love or they save a big salary.
I don’t think they’ll win the East without Love. At least not this year. As Wiggins develops, sure. But the Bulls, at least on paper, look like a much better team.
What will really be interesting is if none of these teams make an offer that Minnesota bites on, what will Love do? The teams involved in trade talks couldn’t clear enough cap in the off-season without losing a superstar (in Cleveland’s case, they’d need to ship out Kyrie Irving for nothing in return), and the teams that could sign him outright would shape up to be perennial 8 seeds with him (or out of the playoffs in the west). His best option in free agency, if Minnesota retains his Bird Rights, is Minnesota. And that’s both in dollars and in quality of roster.
That’s why all this talk of trading Love feels like nonsense to me. Minnesota has to see this. There’s really not a threat on the free agent market to sign Love away, unless Love wants to leave just to leave without regard for winning or salary concerns. Considering Minnesota’s ability to compete is at the crux of this entire situation, they have to feel confident in that they’re going to be the best option for him.
Realistically, if Love requested a trade to Cleveland that’s the only way they are gonna get anything close to decent value in a trade. If they let him go to free agency they are just being stubborn at the cost of their future.
If Minnesota doesn’t trade Love, I’m not sure he doesn’t resign with them. Sure, there’s been drama there. But the teams that will have cap space after this year are all terrible teams that he’ll be even worse on. If I’m Minnesota, I only trade him for excess value and if I don’t get it, I wait and see how free agency plays out.
I like how the story says “are under the impression Love has relayed his desire for a trade to Cleveland to his agent”. Very specific.
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Has anyone noticed that every time Sam Amico reports something it seems to completely favor the Cavs’ position and tends to contradict what everyone else is hearing from their sources?
It is because he is reporting FOR the Cavs. Whenever something comes out(like the Bulls trade offer) that helps the Wolves it comes from a Minnesota source? They are playing a game and due to Wiggins signing, they have 30 more days at least to play them
Thank goodness!
– Bulls fan
I can’t believe that GM’s running franchises that sell for $700 million to $2 billion dollars make decisions based on what any reporter writes.
Working backchannels has been a way of life in all professional sports, and not just in America. I was friends with a major league baseball manager that it was rumored was going to be fired shortly. A backchannel person called his agent and told him that if he got fired, there was a team owner and GM – which he named to him – that wanted to hire him.
If Love has in fact let it be known that he wants to go to Cleveland, then it’s not the Wolves his people are informing. It’s the teams bidding against the Cavs – to let those teams know that he will play for them in 2014-15 as he’s obligated to do contractually, and then he will go to Cleveland as a free agent. Meaning that no team is going to rip up their roster very much for for one year of Kevin Love,
I have no idea if this story is true or not. But I have felt all along that the Cavs will get Love without giving up Wiggens. Flip Sanders has been overplaying his hand as Scott Boras did in baseball with Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales 6 months ago. He’s got a guy that went public saying he’s leaving at the end of the year. He’s selling a rental. And Mr. Sanders best get him moved before training camp starts, because if Love has a major injury anytime from that day on, Mr. Flip will be lucky to get anything with any value for Love, and will probably be looking for another position in the NBA.
Love can’t sign with Cleveland as a free agent next year unless he wants to sign for $10 million per year. Unless they unload kyrie Irving, the best they can do is less than half a max deal. That isn’t going to happen. And teams have cap experts that realize this, so it shouldn’t affect anyone’s bid.
the cavs have 4.7 million in cap remaining as we speak. 3.3 from the Utah deal and 1.4 they had remaining overall. For example trade waiters who is set to make 5 million next year. Trade Bennett who is set to make 5.5 million next year. James jones contract is off the books which is another 1.5 million, Let Haywood go who’s set to make 10 million following next year. Varejoa is offf the books and can resign probably at the veterans minimum which would save another almost 7 million. Point is Cleveland absolutely has the means to pay love.
I’ve written this so many times. I really wish someone (heck, even hoopsrumors) will publish the numbers to get the thought out of peoples minds.
Cleveland’s guaranteed cap hits next summer involve 4 players. They are Lebron James (21.573), Kyrie Irving (18), Andrew Wiggins (5.55), and Mike Miller (2.73, not tradeable because they used the room exception). Everyone else can be released/not offered a contract. But that dollar value is $47.853 million. HOWEVER, when you are under the cap and do not meet minimum roster requirements, you cannot use all of your money to sign a single player. There is a cap hold of minimum salary for each player slot you haven’t filled. In this case, it would be 8 slots of minimum salary, which will add another $4-5 million (depending on where minimum salary is next year). So without trading Irving, Lebron, or Wiggins, their cap space would be somewhere in the $10-12 million range, depending on where the cap ends up being. A max deal starts at $22 million per year. Carmelo Anthony didn’t sign with the Bulls, who could offer him around $18. Kevin Love is supposed to take $10-12? Even if the Cavs traded Wiggins for nothing (which would be crazy), they’d still be offering Love less than what the Bulls tried to offer Melo. The only realistic way Cleveland outright signs Love is if they trade either Lebron James or Kyrie Irving and receive nothing in return.
So, yes, it is technically incorrect to assume the Cavs can’t sign Love. But doing what’s necessary to accomplish that is a worse scenario than trading whatever Minnesota wants for him.
I have the math at approximately $21.573MM for LeBron (assuming he opts in or re-signs for a similar salary), $14.746MM for Irving, $5.734MM for Bennett and $845K for Joe Harris, who got a contract that’s guaranteed for two years. (figures via ShamSports: link to data.shamsports.com…. Miller’s deal isn’t official but he’ll probably end up with $2.8MM for 2015/16, providing he exercises his player option (and he actually can be traded even though he signed for the room exception, as there’s no restriction against that under the current CBA). So, adding those salaries up, we’re at roughly $45.698MM. Add the required seven roster charges, and you’re at $49,373,788. So your point definitely has mathematical merit. I think teams are anticipating a healthy jump in the salary cap, but even if it leaps to $65MM, that’s $15MM and change for Love, well beneath the roughly $18MM max he can earn as a player with 7-9 years of experience.
–Chuck
Screw Kevin Love if this is true.
if Wiggins is in deal forget it, it will become Boozer 2 in Cleveland, do not repeat this mistake again,