Kevin Love Signing a 1-Year Deal or a Sign-and-Trade to ... Boston?

Kevin Love will be the biggest name in the NBA next week, as the league prepares for free agency, and the Cleveland Cavaliers decide what to do with their power forward. Today, Love opted out of the final year of his contract (as expected). After six losing seasons in Minnesota – where Love compiled impressive stats – he was traded to the Cavs, where in one season, he no longer looked like a stat sheet stuffer.

Love shot a career low from the field (43 percent), just 36 percent on three-pointers, and defensively he was an abomination. Still, after the Cavs acquired Mozgov, Shumpert and JR Smith in January, the Cavs were the 2nd best NBA team in the regular season with a healthy Big 3.

When Love was hurt in the 1st round of the playoffs, the Cavs actually got better with Tristan Thompson in the lineup, and beat the Bulls, swept the 60-win Hawks, and stole two games from the Warriors in the NBA Finals.

Now, Cleveland has to make a decision on Love. Sign him to a 1-year deal? Or sign him to a 5-year max deal? Or does a sign-and-trade make the most sense? Consider this: With Sideshow Bob coming back from injury, and Thompson in line for a max deal (he shares an agent with LeBron), plus Mozgov at center, the Cavs have a loaded frontcourt. And don’t forget – LeBron played a lot of valuable minutes at PF in the playoffs.

And then there’s this, from Zach Lowe of Grantland:

"Griffin has repeatedly said the Cavs plan to keep Love, but plugged-in executives around the league continue to predict the Cavs will sign-and-trade Love after advancing so far without him."

Let’s explore what the Cavs could possibly get in exchange for Love, with one key thing to keep in mind: Love ain’t just signing anywhere.

Boston:
Kevin Love to Boston in exchange for … Avery Bradley, Evan Turner’s expiring contract, James Young and a 2016 1st round pick (Boston has a a few)? Is that not enough? This isn’t quite what the Timberwolves got for Love last summer (Wiggins, Bennett, Thaddeus Young, trade exception), but it’s reasonably close. I doubt Danny Ainge wants to part with Marcus Smart.

Houston:
As Adrian Wojnarowski said on my radio show a few weeks ago, the Rockets will be in play for Kevin Love because a) Daryl Morey loves big names, b) Kevin McHale used to be Love’s coach in Minnesota. Would 2016 draft picks (doesn’t look like they have an extra 1st), Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer and KJ McDaniels be a conversation starter? Seems unlikely. Morey’s creative … hey, can he get LaMarcus Aldridge in this trade? (Sorry, Portland.) Let’s see what Houston does with the 18th pick in the draft.

LA Lakers:
I don’t see a Lakers trade. Can’t imagine the Cavs would want another power forward (Randle, LA’s only chip), and they don’t have enough other pieces to make it work, unless LeBron wants Randle, JR Smith 2.0 (Nick Young) and Jordan Clarkson? That doesn’t seem like enough.

Phoenix:
Would Kevin Love really go there? This could get interesting, because of all the teams listed here on a sign and trade, the Suns have the best player: Eric Bledsoe. What about Bledsoe, Alex Len (who could take over for Mozgov when he looks for big money in 2016), a young guy with potential like TJ Warren or perhaps someone they draft Thursday and the Suns extra 2016 1st round pick (from the Cavs, and it is top 10 protected)? But I’m not sure why Kevin Love is going there to play with … nobody.

It’s difficult to get in LeBron’s head right now and try and imagine what he wants: Proven veterans to help immediately, or draft picks to set the Cavs up for the next 3-4 years?