The Cavaliers do not plan to trade Kevin Love if they lose LeBron James in free agency this summer, according to Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Cleveland intends to remain a playoff contender rather than go through a total rebuild if James signs elsewhere once he becomes an unrestricted free agent on Sunday, Vardon continues. The caveat is that no one on the roster is untouchable should James decide to stay.
Love would end up being more of a focal point in Cleveland’s offensive scheme without James. Prior to being traded to the Cavaliers after James left the Heat to return to his hometown team in 2014, Love posted big numbers with the Timberwolves. He averaged 26.1 PPG, 12.5 RPG and 4.4 APG in his last season there in 2013/14.
Love has two years remaining on his contract, though the final year includes a player option. He’s due approximately $24.1MM next season and $25.6MM in 2019/20. Love averaged 17.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG last season but was forced to the sidelines for 23 games due to a broken hand.
The Cavaliers are also interested in re-signing free agent Jeff Green and could offer him their $5,291,918 taxpayer mid-level exception, Vardon adds. Green was a solid role player while making the veteran’s minimum last season, averaging 10.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 78 games.
Love will ave 23 and 11 without James
And the Cavs will be lucky to get out of the first round…
lmao 7th seed in the east have fun
Love would be better off back at Minnie and Wiggins in Cleveland where he could be the #1 option….
But that’ll never happen!
No it certainly will not happen and I hope you’re not one of the pestilence of “fans” who complain about the Love-Wiggins trade.
Love was key to a title, and Wiggins went straight from tease to albatross. Nobody would trade for him now.
Given the lockerroom in Minnesota I’m not sure if Love would want to be there– now the whole team looks like a tease! The CLE FO should re-aquire Frye though (more than Jeff Green) for some Love-support.
To be honest, I was very wrong about that one. Maybe Wiggins becomes the defender he could have been, if he stayed with LeBron, but he hasnt done anything to make me think he would. I still think he would have helped in the GS matchup a little better, but you’re right. When Cleveland won in 2016, that more than justified the trade. When you win, you dont have to apologize for anything, in my opinion.
Love was never a distraction like Wiggins would be, and on a completely different wavelength from James.
And it was a done deal anyway, straight from Gilbert, part of the James return.
Anyway @formerlyz you’re not a sabotaging local so-called fan cryin about Wiggy.
Well there’s nothing but love in Cleveland so it’s understandable.
Smart choice by Cleveland, I’ve been following Collin since high school and the Cavaliers did a phenomenal job drafting that kid, he’s got the heart and drive to be a great player in the NBA and carries himself like a winner. I would love to see the Cavs bring out this starting lineup next season.
Sexton-JR-Hood-Love-Thompson
A lot of people feel like there is not enough scoring there but I just think all those guys will play a lot better without the pressure of performing with Lebron out there and can display their talents. Nothing against Lebron who makes your job a lot easier since he makes plays for you and you just have to knock down shots but I’m cheering for the Cavs man. Good luck next season!.
Lol. Nothing against LeBron. Your entire act is crapping on the guy. I’m not a LeBron fan, but I recognize he is a great player.
You grow frustrates sometimes watching the guy since he mentally checks out of games but their is no denying the man is a top 5 player all time.
I’d love to see Zizic get more minutes at the 5 with TT coming off the bench. Also, Cedi might be the one to start at the two even though he can also play the 3.
The reason the Cavs drafted Sexton is because Gilbert went to the Alabama-Oklahoma game when Sexton outplayed Trae Young and won. Then Gilbert showed up when Sexton did his tryout in Cleveland. Sexton is Gilbert’s pick. Mitch Kupchak talked to Kemba Walker and told him he wants Walker to stay and be their guy. Walker likes the idea. Sexton is the Cavs guy. Cavs said they’ll match any offer for Hood.
The Knicks could beat that lineup.
The Knicks beat the Cavs (with LeBron) a few times last year too. Your point?
I hope Cleveland as an organization is not delusional enough to think that they’re championship contenders without LeBron…
All you need is Love.
Love will be gone next summer when he opts out. No way he stays with LeBron gone. If PG changes his mind and goes to Lakers, and the Spurs refuse to trade Kawhi to the Lakers, Isn’t the only way Kawhi can go there is to accept the minimum next summer. Someone said PG and Kawhi could be making a mistake. LeBron never accepts the blame when things go wrong.
They don’t have their first round pick next year so they might as well go all out for the 8 seed lol…
That is untrue. The Cavs first round pick is protected 1-10 for the next two years. It it doesn’t change hands then it turns into 2 second round picks in 2020 and 2021.
Well if this is true, would that mean they may be more open to a sign and trade, if that ends up happening with LeBron? Wouldn’t that invoke the hard cap though?
Cavs would only have a hard cap if they acquired someone via sign-and-trade (or if they used the bi-annual exception, or more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level). Signing-and-trading someone to another team wouldn’t hard-cap them.
So if LeBron ended up surprisingly choosing miami, and they did a sign and trade that involved them getting back Waiters, James Johnson, etc, that would hard cap them
The Heat would be hard-capped, the Cavs wouldn’t.
Interesting. Thanks. I definitely misunderstood that one lol. I thought it would be both of them…
They’ll make the playoffs with just Love. Can’t see them advancing past round 1 though
Because of their players and payroll, and the cap/tax situation in the league, and the fact that the Draft is over, I’m not sure there’s anything different they would really do between now and the middle of next season if they were in rebuild vs win now mode. The moves they’ll make, either way, between now and midseason will really involve the de-LeBron-ization of the roster. They’ll re-evaluate the present-future thing mid year like most teams do.
If James leaves, Cavs could stretch Smith, save about $11, go $8 under the cap, and upgrade Jeff Smith with a Bjelica or Tolliver or Kyle Anderson.
8 players left +FA +Sexton +Hood, Calderon, OkaroW =13
CONFIRMED, LeBron landed about an hour ago at Van Nuys airport about an hour ago. (NOON local time here in L.A.)
I used to absolutely love the game of K-Love when he was in Minny, I thought he could be one of the best white players ever in the league, a mix of Bill Walton, Bill Laimbeer & Larry Bird. I mean first guy in over 30 years to do a 30-30 game, to do a 20-15 season, he could rebound, score, pass, a 20-20 machine, TD’s… a beast, but I always thought he was underused & devalued in Cleveland, obviously he was traded, but I always thought the move wasn’t good for him, maybe he can go back to be the player he was, that would be cool.
The headline of this article should “Cavs MUST keep love if James leaves.”
A lineup of Love, Clarkson, Nance, Irving and a free agent like Capala would play well in the East