Andrew Wiggins Rumor: Cleveland Cavaliers May Be Ready To Deal No. 1 Pick For Kevin Love
Andrew Wiggins is signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the No. 1 overall pick might never suit up for them.
The Cavs are working a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves that would send All Star forward Kevin Love to Cleveland. With the Cavs already signing LeBron James this month, the addition of Love would turn them into an immediate title contender.
The teams have been working on a trade for weeks, with the Wolves reportedly insisting that Andrew Wiggins be included and the Cavs resisting. But new sources say that Cleveland could be coming around, and have already traded away $3.3 million in cap space to prepare for Love’s salary.
Basketball writers are expecting the Cavaliers to deal Andrew Wiggins for Love. SB Nation writer Tom Ziller wrote that the Cavaliers can’t turn down the chance to land Kevin Love and get a championship this year over hoping Andrew Wiggins develops into a great player in the future.
Ziller wrote:
And right now, Love is almost assuredly going to be more productive than Wiggins. Even the best rookies (like LeBron in 2003-04) struggle to perform like stars. Kevin Love, meanwhile, hasn’t struggled to perform in years. He’s the second-best shooting big man in the league (behind Dirk Nowitzki) and the NBA’s top rebounder. He’s also just 25 years old, at the front end of his age-based projected prime.
As Ziller noted, the Cavaliers have already learned the hard way that LeBron James alone can’t win a championship. After carrying the team for six seasons, and even bringing them almost single-handedly to the NBA Finals in 2007, LeBron jumped ship for a more championship-ready team in Miami.
If the Cavs can land Love, it would give them a Big Three something like what Miami assembled with James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. For Cleveland, the third piece would be up-and-coming guard Kyrie Irving.
If Andrew Wiggins is headed to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love, it won’t be anytime soon. After Wiggins signed he has a 30-day period in which he cannot be traded.
