There have been speculations of late that the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to move Kevin Love via a trade. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, however, the opposite is true – the Cavs have no intention of shipping the power forward somewhere else, McMenamin said on an episode of SportsCenter on Wednesday evening (h/t Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints).
Love has been rumored recently as being part of a package that includes the Cavs’ no. 8 pick in this Thursday’s NBA Draft.
With McMenamin’s report, however, it seems that the team would rather keep the All-Star big man than send him off in a trade. McMenamin also adds that the Cavs are more interested in using their top-10 pick on a playmaker, something that they utterly lacked in the playoffs outside of LeBron James.
Kevin Love is a controllable asset for the Cavs for two more seasons. He is set to earn $49.6 million during that span, a heavy price tag that is probably a turn off for most teams. That and his inconsistent performance in the playoffs dragged his value down a bit.
This is also why that the Cavs’ no. 8 pick is always going to be in conversations regarding trades involving Love, who averaged 17.6 points and 9.3 rebounds last season.
Also in the background for the Cavs is LeBron James’ decision on whether to pick up his 2018-19 player option and stay in Cleveland for another year or let himself hit the free agent market.
According to McMenamin, however, the Cavs plan to keep Love next season regardless of whether or not James stays in Cleveland.
Furthermore, regardless of what decision LeBron James makes about his future in Cleveland, the Cavs have interest in keeping Love next season, sources said.
In any case, the need for an additional playmaker stands for Cleveland.
