As the Cavaliers lost their 14th game in 15 contests, the situation with Kevin Love grew even more awkward. The Cavs star is in year two of a massive five year deal inked last summer, but he very clearly wants out. Multiple reports have said so, even if he’s not made any public demands, and recently the Cavs were reported to finally be listening to offers for their disgruntled big man.
For Cleveland, finding an offer sooner rather than later might be better. Love, initially a strong veteran presence in the Cavs rebuild, is starting to become a liability in it. When things start to go wrong on the court he openly pouts about it. Young players make mistakes, and with Love relying on Collin Sexton and Darius Garland to get him the ball there are going to be a lot of mistakes, but you can’t keep someone around that’s intentionally taking a 3-second violation to prove a point.
As @ZachLowe_NBA mentioned on his podcast, here's Kevin Love intentionally taking a three second call out of frustration
When Darius Garland leads your team with 2.8 apg.. pic.twitter.com/cOt7eJ6AGM— Bootum (@DaRealBootum) December 12, 2019
So what’s the holdup? Why not just find a deal for Love and get the problem out of Cleveland? The issue is that what the Cavs are asking for and what teams are offering are about as far apart as they could get. Teams see the desperation Love has to get out of town and, unsurprisingly, are trying to take advantage of that. According to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, teams are telling the Cavs they want a fist round pick to accompany Love in a trade because taking him on means bringing in a lot of salary. The Cavs, shockingly, are not agreeing to that!
The Cavs are asking for a first-round pick in exchange for Love, one source with knowledge of the situation said. But teams are actually asking for a first-round pick from Cleveland just to absorb the final 3 1/2 years on his deal. It only takes one injury or one team to change all of that, but at this point, the gap between what the Cavs want and what is being offered seems pretty wide.
The Cavs obviously want to get a first-round pick of their own in exchange for Love, given that he is their most valuable veteran asset. So sending one away to move Love would go against their own interests. He might 31 years old, but you can’t ignore that Love is still an incredibly effective player at this stage of his career. He should be able to help a team hoping to contend for the playoffs or a title and the Cavs know that. However, his contract is massive and that does take away from his trade value in that a team would be taking on a hefty financial commitment on a player that will be in his mid-30s and making $30 million per year.
Still, it feels safe to say that the Cavs will not be sending out a first-round pick to trade Love, no matter how desperate they get to move him. Love could take a nap at mid-court during the game and Cleveland would not trade away a first. So what can teams and the Cavs do to close this giant gap? Perhaps removing a pick altogether is necessary. The Cavs might want to move away from trying to get a first and instead try to acquire a young player with upside that better fits their timetable.
As trade discussions continue, the Cavs could also play the long game and try to wait until the deadline to see if a contending team desperate for a spark is willing to give in more to what the Cavs are demanding for a spark or a run. A team like the Heat, Celtics or even the Trail Blazers could be in this kind of situation by February. One of the two L.A.’s might want to bring in a third star to their duos. Love could be involved in a three-team deal. There’s a plethora of options that open up as we move closer to the deadline. The wide gap theoretically should close with time, but both the Cavs and interested teams will need to make some concessions.
