Finally. Finally. The Kevin Love saga appears to be coming to an official end. Although the long rumored (and expected) trade cannot be announced until this Saturday, reports out of the Twin Cities appear to show the frame work for a three-team deal involving the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers could be completed soon.Â
Dan Barreiro of 100.3 KFAN in Minneapolis suspects the following will take place on Saturday:
What I expect by end of day Sat: Wolves lose Love, Shved, Mbah A Moute, a No. 1, gain Wiggins, Bennett, TYoung, cap except. In 3-team deal.
— Dan Barreiro (@DanBarreiroKFAN) August 21, 2014
The pick would be one of Cleve's several
— Dan Barreiro (@DanBarreiroKFAN) August 21, 2014
As locals will tell you in the Twin Cities, it’s no secret that Barreiro and Timberwolves head coach/general manager of basketball operations Flip Saunders are close friends. Barreiro has been ahead on these reports since day one.
Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press confirmed the details of a potential three-team deal as well.
Ditto RT @DanBarreiroKFAN: What I expect by end of day Sat: Love, Shved, LRMAM, No. 1, 4 Wiggins, Bennett, TYoung, cap except. 3-team deal.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) August 21, 2014
Krawcynski is a regular guest on Barreiro’s show and has been plugged in to this whole Love fiasco since it began.
In the end, the Timberwolves will end up with Andrew Wiggins, along with last year’s first overall pick Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young. Not a bad trio to bring in to a team that already has Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, Shabazz Muhammad (who the Wolves expect huge things out of this year) and Gorgui Dieng. That’s a core worth building around.
As for the Cavs, they land Kevin Love and some other “who cares” pieces, which is what LeBron James wanted all along. The Sixers will get Alexey Shved, Luc Mbah a Moute and a pick. Also, expect other picks (and maybe cap relief) to exchange hands one the deal is finalized.
A complicated ordeal from the start, it appears each team is getting what they want. For the Wolves to get (potentially) three first-round picks (Wiggins, Bennett and future pick) for an unhappy Kevin Love is an odd victory for a franchise that isn’t used to being on the positive end of any deal.
That said, there’s still potential for this trade to be a bust for the Wolves and Cavs, depending on how it plays out over the next couple years.
Photo: USA Today