Despite winning the 2016 NBA Championship, Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has always had his name mentioned when it came to trade rumors. Despite the eight straight double-doubles in the playoffs and 10 total, Love has always been looked at as an awkward fit for this Cavs team.
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Unsurprisingly, reports surfaced soon after winning the title that the Cavs would keep their options open when it came to Love,
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, however, the Cavs are no longer even considering calls or trades when it comes to Love.
No name gets mentioned more frequently in trade rumors than Cavaliers forward Kevin Love. The problem with that is neither the Cavs nor Love are looking for a change.
People like to point to the sometimes awkward fit for Love on the Cavs roster, but the truth of the matter is Cleveland won a lot of games last season because of Love. While Love wasn’t extremely productive in the Finals against the Warriors, he was very effective in the march up to the Finals and the Cavs know they won’t get anything better than Love in a trade. It’s something they have known for some time.
While there are no shortage of suitors who would take on Love’s contract, sources close to the Cavs say moving him is not even remotely a consideration.
The Cavaliers do have some roster business to take care of, namely getting J.R. Smith re-signed, which is viewed internally as simply a process that resolves itself in time.
As for trading Love, there is no sense that the Cavs are even listening to offers. Like Cousins, he is a name you can simply remove from the discussion.
Love had eight straight double doubles in the playoffs (four against Detroit, four against Atlanta) and then another pair in the NBA Finals. This year, Love averaged 16 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists for the Cavs as he helped them advance to their third ever NBA Finals and win it’s first title in franchise history.
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This should essentially shut down any trade rumors and false trade reports that are out there regarding the Cavs and Kevin Love. As Kyler notes, the only remaining piece that remains of the Cavs puzzle is re-signing J.R. Smith.
