Why a Wiggins for Love trade makes so much sense for the Cavaliers and Timberwolves
There will always be risk and hesitation when a team is considering trading one recent No. 1 overall pick, let alone two, like the Cavaliers reportedly are. It’s understandable that they would try to get a deal done for Kevin Love without including prized rookie Andrew Wiggins.
It’s also understandable that a team in the Timberwolves’ position - on the cusp of losing a young star - would hold out in the hopes of being absolutely blown away by a trade offer.
The truth, however, is that a trade involving Love, Wiggins, Cleveland and Minnesota is a rare, perfect match for a variety of reasons.
Just as it’s rare for a true superstar in his prime to be on the trading block, it’s even more unusual for the team who just selected No. 1 overall in the Draft to have the best player alive (LeBron James) fall in its lap, with a young, complimentary All-Star (Kyrie Irving) already on its roster.
That puts the Cavs in an advantageous position of being able to trade away that recent No. 1 pick(s) without mortgaging their future. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, can restock, replacing one franchise talent with the potential of another, a rare feat for teams trading a player of Love’s caliber.
Maybe Wiggins ends up fulfilling his otherworldly two-way potential and reaches his ceiling of a perennial All-Star and legitimate franchise player some time down the road, but Love is a top-10, if not top-five player right now, by virtually any metric other than team wins. And for those who want to hold the T-Wolves’ lack of success against him, consider that a Minnesota team that outscored opponents by 6.1 points per 48 minutes with Love on the floor was then outscored by 5.6 points per 48 minutes with Love on the bench, according to NBA.com.
Giving up Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and another first round pick is a lot to part with, especially considering Wiggins’ aforementioned ceiling, but landing Love to pair with James and Irving in a weak, wide open Eastern Conference would make parting with that package a lot easier to swallow.
In James’ letter to announce his return to Cleveland, he wrote “We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010.”
Well if the Cavaliers land Love and go forward with a James/Love/Irving Big Three in the East, you can pretty much scrap that entire paragraph, because the team would be in just as good a position as Miami was when they won the first of four straight conference titles in 2010-11.
It’s also not like the Cavs would be trading away a potential franchise player for some over-the-hill veteran who only has a year or two of great basketball left in him.
Sure, Love’s durability is a concern, as he’s missed 112 games over six seasons, and trading for him would obviously include the Cavs banking on an agreement to re-sign in Cleveland at the end of his current contract, but he’s 25-years-old and coming off of his second All-NBA (2nd Team) season where he averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists to go with a third-ranked PER (26.9), third-ranked Win Shares (14.3) and sixth-ranked Wins Above Replacement (13.54).
Wiggins may get there one day, but by the time he does, James will be in his mid-thirties.
As for the Timberwolves, they’re not going to acquire anything close to Love’s present day value in a trade (other top-10 players aren’t readily available), so their best hope is acquiring assets that can potentially provide Love’s current value somewhere along the line in the future. Wiggins probably represents the best possible compensation then, since other top picks and potential franchise players like Anthony Davis, for example, aren’t available.
And Minnesota would be nabbing that potential franchise talent with all four years of cost-controlled rookie scale salary plus team-controlled RFA seasons still to come. They'd likely control Wiggins' rights for the next half-decade and beyond. Consider Klay Thompson on the other hand, who the Timberwolves are reportedly targeting in Love trade talks with the Warriors. Thompson is a solid young player, but his ceiling is nowhere near that of Wiggins’ and he’s due for a massive extension in the near future.
Minnesota wants as much as possible for Love, and right now they might even feel that an offer of Wiggins, Bennett and a first rounder isn’t enough, while Cleveland doesn’t want to part with Wiggins and probably feels that they'll have a chance to eventually acquire Love with a lesser offer.
Each vantage point is understandable as each team faces tough questions regarding these monumental trade talks. At some point, however, both will have to realize that rarely do two teams on such different timelines line up so well as potential trade partners. It may therefore be an opportunity that neither side can afford to miss.