Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers
Kevin Love is another aging veteran who has received a lot of trade interest around the league. After LeBron James departed Cleveland after delivering them their first championship in franchise history, the Cavs knew the road would be tough moving forward and while they rebuilt, they decided to honor Kevin Love being a big part of their championship by giving him a 4-year, $120M contract.
Now, in year two of that contract, the Cavaliers may be willing to unload the 32-year old power-forward and the $92M he is still owed over the next three years. This would be a lot of money in salary to ask any team to take on, which is why the Cavaliers may not receive as much as they could in return, but they have to move Kevin Love. Not only does he deserve to join a new team, but the Cavaliers need to continue acquiring draft assets to build for the future.
The Cavs have had a lot of success over the years in the draft, selecting Collins Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro over the span of the last three drafts, and have these three guys to build around as their young core. Cleveland is not a playoff team, even in the Eastern Conference, which is why they need to move Kevin Love.
Although it is nice to be making over $30M a year, nobody in the NBA wants to be consistently losing and they owe it to Kevin Love to try and move him to a contending team. He was a part of their championship team in 2016 and can still contribute to a team that is willing to take on his massive contract. Not only is he still a knockdown shooter from deep, shooting 37.4% from three-point range last season, but he is also still a great rebounder.
Love has never averaged less than 9 rebounds per game over his 12-year career and would be a key addition to any championship contender, or even any borderline playoff team. He is the type of player who can push a team over the threshold of playoffs/championship and is a worthwhile trade target for any team who is one piece away from reaching their goals.
The Knicks, Pacers, Clippers, Hawks, Mavs and the Nuggets are just a few teams who could benefit greatly by adding Kevin Love and it is reasonable to believe he will not spend the entirety of the 2020-21 NBA season in a Cavaliers jersey.
