With the Cleveland Cavaliers off to a woeful start, the prospect of a roster teardown has reportedly raised the possibility of the team making both center Tristan Thompson and power forward Kevin Love available in trades.
That consideration could also find veteran Kyle Korver headed elsewhere.
Sean Deveney of Sporting News spoke with league executives about which big men could be available as the season gets closer to the February trading deadline. One indicated that any decision by the Cavaliers won’t be coming soon:
“Don’t hold your breath. If they decide to blow it all up, I don’t expect that decision to be made until we get close to the deadline. They still think they can win”
Love signed a $120 million contract extension that begins next year, which Deveney believes could end up having contending teams focus on other players:
“Kevin Love is expected to be to be centerpiece if a talent dump happens, but his contract is prohibitive. It may be Thompson who is the first to go (or perhaps second after Kyle Korver).”
Thompson also is being paid major money, with the main criticism of him being that his lone skill is in the rebounding category. Through the end of the 2019-20 season, Thompson is scheduled to earn roughly $36 million, a price that may make some interested teams also look elsewhere.
The 37-year-old Korver can still provide instant offense for a contending team, but wouldn’t hold out much value for a Cavaliers team that begins a total overhaul. He’s scheduled to be paid a total of approximately $15 million over the next two seasons.
Having dropped their first five games of the season, the Cavs still have time to get back on track. However, trades could begin coming in January, when the team goes through a rough stretch of games, including their longest road trip of the season.
