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Cavs Rumors: Love, Trade Options, Porter

December 12th 2019 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers may have a difficult time trading Kevin Love this season for a couple reasons, as Jason Lloyd of The Athletic explains. For one, Love has a massive contract that will pay him more than $91MM over the next three seasons, not counting his $29MM cap hit for 2019/20.

Additionally, there may be a significant divide between what the Cavaliers want for Love vs. what other teams are willing to offer. A source with knowledge of the situation tells Lloyd that Cleveland is seeking a first-round pick. However, some potential trade partners want to acquire a first-rounder themselves for absorbing the final three-and-a-half years of Love’s contract.

One league executive believes the Cavs may eventually get the first-round pick they want in a Love trade, but it depends how much salary they’ll be willing to take back, Lloyd writes. It doesn’t help the Cavs’ case that there aren’t many truly toxic multiyear contracts left on teams’ books around the NBA that they could absorb.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • Following up on Love, Lloyd acknowledges that the five-time All-Star has been the subject of trade rumors for years, but says this time feels “a little more real.”
  • Here’s how Love responded when asked by Lloyd if he re-upped with Cleveland because the team was willing to pay him more money than he could’ve received in free agency: “Maybe more years. And honestly it was like the last one I signed. I could’ve done a one-plus-one and waited, and got $40MM more. But I think I felt comfortable here, I didn’t know what the future was going to hold, but they believed in me after my first year after I got hurt and they believed in me then. And it’s really hard to say no when the money is right there. From a strictly financial standpoint, if it’s right there in front of you, you’re like, ‘S–t.'”
  • The Cavaliers had made it known that they’re ready to discuss trades, according to Lloyd, who hears from one source that the team has made “basically everyone but Darius [Garland]” available. The Cavs’ veterans on expiring contracts are the club’s most logical trade chips, but Lloyd is unconvinced that any of those players will be worth a first-round pick on the trade market.
  • According to Lloyd, the Cavs have been “quietly impressed” with what they’ve seen so far from No. 30 overall pick Kevin Porter Jr. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com took a closer look at Porter after the rookie scored a career-high 24 points vs. Houston on Wednesday, writing that the 19-year-old has been the “brightest light in a gloomy season” for the franchise.
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