The Kevin Love rumours continue to circle. Though Trail Blazers fans might not like the idea, it’s a great time to examine how a deal may look.
Video surfaced recently of Kevin Love looking fed up on court while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Demanding the ball at the top of the key, he threw his hands in the air and then threw a terrible bullet pass to a teammate. Love obviously wants out of Cleveland, can we expect him to be playing for the Trail Blazers anytime soon?
Love is obviously unhappy where he is. This may mean that he tries to force his way out and leaves the Cavaliers with less leverage when making a deal. The rumours about Love and Portland have always been there, but the rumour mill went into overdrive when this video surfaced.
We aren’t happy with giving away a lot of assets to bring Love in. But as the season wears on and the Blazers still have the expiring contracts of Hassan Whiteside and Kent Bazemore, the chances of a deal increase.
This team may make moves that some of us don’t agree with, that’s just what happens when following or covering an NBA team. But we hope that the Blazers can find a happy medium if they do bring in Love.
If the Cavaliers got an expiring contract from another team, thus getting three years salary relief, that is an asset in itself. Love wants out of Cleveland so the Cavs don’t have a massive amount of leverage in a trade. It’s hard to gauge what Love’s value is on the open market, but the Blazers would probably have to attach one young player or a pick.
Our first rounder may be too valuable this year so it would have to be a young player.
If the Blazers really wanted to get a deal done then the package would have to include Hassan Whiteside for salary matching purposes, then probably one young prospect. Anfernee Simons is too good to give up, but Nassir Little may get the deal done.
Again, we aren’t overly happy with this deal, or even encouraging it. But this would be the basis for a deal being made.
This Blazers team does need to make a trade, they need to use their expiring deals before the deadline for a start. And if they are still serious about making a run in the playoffs then they will need some backup at the two big spots.
We would be disappointed to give up Little, and if Whiteside also went out in this deal then we would have to major issues around rim protection. Another center would have to be brought in even with Jusuf Nurkic returning around the deadline.
This would be a little easier as they would have an extra roster spot if they were to make the above trade.
The biggest negative for this trade would be the impact on the development of Zach Collins. Collins could alternate between the four and the five though. He would be a good fit next to Love at the five, but would receive less minutes at the four.
All of the above are factors to consider when making this trade. If Love can stay healthy, this move may work out. But if he is injured and struggles defensively, then this may ruin the franchise for years to come.
Let’s hope if they do make a move that they don’t give up too much in the way of young talent or core pieces!