Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star big man Kevin Love is still over a month from returning to the court after undergoing surgery on an injured left toe, but that doesn’t mean teams around the NBA aren’t interested in trading for him.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Cavs could easily find a trade partner for Love if they choose to go that route. He discussed the lively market for Love on “The Really Big Show” on ESPN 850 WKNR.
“If they wanted to trade him, they could,” Windhorst said.
He was asked to confirm that interest around the league still exists despite the injury.
“Yes. Absolutely. There is interest in Kevin Love in this league,” Windhorst said. “Would it be the best time to trade him? I don’t believe so, no. I don’t believe you could get your best value then.”
He added that he has personally spoken to NBA general managers around the league who are interested in potentially trading for Love.
“I’ve talked to general managers out there who are interested in trading for Kevin Love, right now,” Windhorst said. “Maybe not this moment, but they maintain in trading for him this season, if he’s healthy.
“The Cavs would be able to get pieces for him. I don’t necessarily think they’d be great pieces. When you have a guy under a $100 million contract who is injured, you worry about whether you’d have to ‘incentivize’… it’s what’s known as ‘incentivizing’ where you’d have to add something to the deal like a draft pick or something to sweeten the pot for a team to the player off your hands.”
Still, he did admit that it could be quite some time before Love was ready to play again.
“It’s really unclear as to what this timeline is going to be,” Windhorst said. “When he first had the injury, I was told 4-6 weeks, but they weren’t expecting surgery. Now that he’s had surgery, it could be way more than that. I don’t know what Kevin Love’s situation is going to be this year.
“I don’t know when you’re going to see him again.”
Once he’s back, however, it seems a trade market could heat up very quickly.
“The Cavs could trade Kevin Love in 15 minutes, if they want to,” Windhorst said.
Whether or not the Cavs decide to take advantage of that market remains to be seen.
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