Will The Cleveland Cavaliers Trade Kevin Love?

Whether it is to a legit title contender or a borderline playoff team, Kevin Love will be traded by the Cavaliers near the trade deadline this season. Not only is he owed over $90M for the next three seasons, but his hefty contract is ruining the Cavaliers’ ability to re-sign their core of youth and bring in solid players around them in free agency.

Before the 2019-20 season, the Cavaliers rewarded Kevin Love with a four-year, $120M contract extension, which sounded good at the time, but long-term, this contract is ruining the Cavaliers’ finances. Love’s contract alone pushes this team way over the Salary Cap and threatens to push them over the luxury tax threshold. 

Moving forward, if the Cavaliers are going to have any chance to contend for another championship, they need to continue building their young core and be able to keep them together. By the time the Cavaliers will be ready to be a legit playoff team in the Eastern Conference, Kevin Love will have retired. 

There is no use keeping Love on this roster as his contract is too large and there is plenty of interest around the league for an established veteran of his nature. No All-Star free agent is going to want to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers and “compete” for a championship next to the 32-year old forward, so the Cavs might as well trade him while they can and gather as many draft picks as possible. 

Kevin Love’s best basketball behind him now and while he can still contribute at a high-level, it is no use on a bottom-tier Cleveland Cavaliers team. For his sake and for the Cavaliers’ sake, they need to move on from Kevin Love and continue building for the future.