Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: G/F Josh Hart (via sign-and-trade, $15M+ per year)
New Orleans Pelicans Receive: F Kevin Love, CLE 2023 1st Round Pick (Lottery-Protected, conveys year-by-year if not hit)
Finding a way to move on from Kevin Love has been something the Cleveland Cavaliers have been trying to do all offseason long, but no teams have been willing to discuss a potential trade involving him, even though Cleveland is willing to offer draft incentives to teams to take on his contract.
Paying Kevin Love $60.2M over the next two seasons is something the Cavs and New Orleans Pelicans definitely are not interested in doing, but bringing in Love could definitely be advantageous to the Pelicans. They already have 15 guys on their roster for the 2021-22 season, but they could easily waive Wenyen Gabriel’s non-guaranteed contract and substitute in Love on their roster instead, which would definitely be an upgrade.
While he is not the All-Star forward he once was, Kevin Love has averaged 16.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and has shot 36.9% from deep over the course of the last three seasons.
Granted last season was a really bad showing for Love, he is still an experienced veteran big man that can not only provide depth, but potentially be a leader for a young team looking to make a real playoff push this season.
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If the Pelicans are willing to take on Love’s contract in a sign-and-trade for Josh Hart, then the Cavaliers would most definitely include a future first-round pick as a “thank you” to New Orleans for taking on the veteran’s salary. This pick however would come with some big protections on it.
It would likely be lottery protected in 2023, Top-10 protected in 2024, Top-8 protected in 2025, Top-5 protected in 2026 and then if not conveyed by then, would either be an unprotected pick in 2027 or more likely, two future second-round picks.
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The options and protections on the picks can get confusing, but in terms of this deal, they are not really important for getting each team what they need.
The Cavs continue to be interested in Josh Hart and if they can move Kevin Love at the same time, this would definitely be a big win for them, even if they would be hard-capping themselves from acquiring Hart via a sign-and-trade.
