The Cavaliers aren’t making an effort to deal Kevin Love, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. On the surface, Love appears to be a prime trade candidate. He’s nearly 31 on a rebuilding team, is coming off toe surgery that limited him to 22 games last season and has a four-year, $120MM extension that’s about to kick in.
However, Cleveland doesn’t view Love’s contract as burdensome. A five-time All-Star, he’s easily the team’s best player if he can stay healthy and provides a positive role model for a young roster. New coach John Beilein wants to keep Love around because he’ll take pressure off his teammates to develop quickly.
Cavs management will listen to offers for Love, but it would take a formidable deal to move him anytime soon. Fedor sees the Heat as a possibility because they are searching for a second star to team with Jimmy Butler and have both young players such as Tyler Herro, Meyers Leonard, Bam Adebayo and Justise Winslow who would interest Cleveland, plus big contracts in James Johnson, Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters to help match Love’s $28.9MM salary. Fedor expects the front office to hold onto Love for a while and reassess its options closer to the trade deadline.
There’s more out of Cleveland, all courtesy of Fedor:
- Tomorrow is the new guarantee date for J.R. Smith, but it can be pushed back to August 1 if the Cavs can’t work out a trade. The original date had been June 30, but Smith agreed to an extension last month in exchange for an increase in guaranteed money from $3.9MM to $4.37MM. Smith’s trade value can be counted at the full $15.68MM because he signed his contract before that rule was changed, but Cleveland hasn’t been able to find any takers for the 33-year-old guard. Management has been surprised by the lack of interest in Smith, Fedor adds, believing its offers in salary-dump situations were better than the ones that were accepted. The Cavs have also been “shocked” by some of the bad contracts teams are trying to get them to take.
- The Cavaliers tried to obtain Andre Iguodala from the Warriors, and sources tell Fedor they asked for less than the future first-rounder and cash that Memphis received for taking on Iguodala’s $17.1MM contract. However, Golden State wanted to create a large trade exception and saw that as more valuable than the cap relief Smith would have provided. Cleveland was also involved in talks to facilitate the Butler trade by taking Maurice Harkless from the Trail Blazers, but he wound up with the Clippers, who received a 2023 first-rounder from Miami.
- Former Duke big man Marques Bolden is receiving strong consideration for a two-way contract. The Cavaliers believe he never got a full chance to display his talents in college and can develop into an effective NBA center. “In college you don’t have space,” said Summer League head coach Antonio Lang. “Here you have space and he can create space if he continues to roll hard. Everything you look for in a big he has, he just has to be more efficient with his footwork and learn the game more. That comes with practice and time. He’s more suited for the NBA game.”
Did anyone else see Marques Bolden in the summer league? Am I the only one who doesn’t think he has what it takes? There’s just something missing in his game… I think it’s heart and Ultra desire for success that is necessary for players without exceptional Talent. He was just a guy out there.
That’s why you’re not running a team and instead are just Gary.
meow
Fair enough. Let’s check back in 3 years, or is that enough time for you?
Meow… it’s nice to be famous for something. Got to be a way to make some money off of that.
I agree with coach Lang… his footwork is terrible and he needs space inside.
I saw no perimeter skills or comfort and a poise issue.
He had impressive talent with the ball but was all very rushed. Without the ball he was not in the flow.
A good risk for the GL though esp if Duke was the problem. He should forget about his Duke days & start over.
It’s a two way contract, not a super max contract.
So you mean to tell me the Heat would give up their talented youngsters for Kevin Love but not Russel Westbrook? Interesting
Who said they would give them up for Love? Just says they have them.
Who says the heat has talented youngsters?
That pile is steaming. Formidable offer? No just expiring contracts.
That’s why he’s not moving. Why trade for that?– It’s Kevin fkn Love of the world champion Cavaliers. When he’s gone, that attachment is gone.
I think the HR article buried the lede under old news that Fedor is more interested in than Cavs “nation” in general.
JR’s contract was always going to line up (value-wise) behind cap space and trade exceptions. But not much left of those any longer, so it might pay to extend the date and keep looking. But I doubt they’re getting a 1st for an expiring.
If they aren’t getting any assets for Smith’s contract then they might as well just cut him and eat the $4 mil.
Take a 2 year bad contract, with 20-24 mm or so left for 2 seasons, and they’ll get a 1st. With little on the books in 2020-21, they can do that. Just hard to see them finding an expiring for a 1st (OKC for Roberson and Patterson, giving up Den’s 1st ?).
I liked hearing that GM Altman is trying and apparently has OKs for breaking opportunities.
But ending the offseason with nothing accomplished is not a good look for him. Not even a small move.
Beilein has his hands full. The Cavs have more PGs on the roster than the Knicks have PFs! $50MM in salary is directed to 5 players incl.recent #5 & #8 picks. It is possibly smart to retain B randon Knight though– he could be the one with the most improvement, and become tradable.
@%sure What do you think the price would be for Mitchell Robinson?
Sexton but not Garland? It would be heavy due to Knick fans already feeling let down by the offseason moves… such a trade would be a huge risk for Mills/Perry. And for whatever reason the Cavs FO does not think a shotblocker is needed. Argh
I think the Knicks will pull way out of the cellar. They have a theme now: toughness. Everyone they got recently has it. It won’t by itself get far in the playoffs but it’s something to build on.
the knicks made a bunch of moves to win 30 games it goes to show you how far they have fallen.
The Knicks are not trading Robinson so any thoughts about that are just dumb