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Best Potential Fits for Kevin Love

Now that Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has officially opted out of his contract and is set to become a free agent next month, we are primed to hear a lot of reports about where he might end up. Heck, it didn’t take more than five minutes from him opting out before a specific link was made to the Boston Celtics.

About a week until the official start of free agency, let’s check in on the best potential landing spots for the three-time All-Star.

Note: Cleveland isn’t included in this article. While he may very well re-sign with the team, the fit just doesn’t seem to be there, especially with Tristan Thompson potentially slated to return.

Los Angeles Lakers

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The Lakers are one of the few teams that wouldn’t have to work out a sign-and-trade with the Cavaliers in order to acquire Love. Though, that is still a possibility should Los Angeles want to keep some more cash to add another starter-caliber player. A lot of this is predicated on what the Lakers do in the upcoming draft. If they add Duke’s Jahlil Okafor with the second overall pick, Love would be a really nice player to bring into the mix. Okafor’s game is pretty much in the paint right now, which has been one of the biggest knocks on him. Though, adding Love to the mix would enable the Lakers to get that power forward who can pop out and hit the from the perimeter. In reality, Okafor and Love would mesh extremely well.

The one issue here is that Los Angeles just selected a power forward in Julius Randle in the top 10 of the 2014 NBA draft. Despite missing all of his rookie season, the team is still extremely high on the Kentucky product.

The best-case scenario for the Lakers would be to find a way to acquire DeMarcus Cousins from the Sacramento Kings without upping their cap number, at which point the team then could potentially make a play for Love. That would require the Lakers sending Randle, the second pick and cap fillers, among other assets, to the Kings.

Portland Trail Blazers

There are a lot of moving parts involved in this scenario. Working under the wide-ranging belief that LaMarcus Aldridge does leave in free agency, Portland would be left with a huge void at power forward. In fact, outside of Aldridge, there isn’t a single player on the Blazers’ roster that is a natural power forward.

Now that Arron Afflalo has officially opted out of his contract, the Blazers would be in position to add another star-quality player should they not be able to re-sign Aldridge. Love would obviously be viewed as a downgrade, but he would also fit well with Damian Lillard. Talk about spreading the court with two capable perimeter shooters. Portland could also reach out to the Cavaliers to see if there is any potential sign-and-trade that could be worked out here. I am pretty sure LeBron James and company wouldn’t mind adding someone of Chris Kaman’s ability off the bench.

Washington Wizards

With Washington projected to be over the cap, this would have to be a pure sign-and-trade deal. In that, it might make sense for the Cavaliers to work out a trade that could bring them the likes of Nene Hilario and Ramon Sessions to come off the bench.

For the Wizards, this trade would make too much sense. John Wall and Bradley Beal add the perimeter game to a group that includes a monster inside in the form of Marcin Gortat. Add Love’s inside-out game to the mix, and the Wizards are instant title contenders. Though, I am not sure Cleveland wants to do any of its Eastern Conference rivals a favor here.

Photo: USA Today Sports

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