A new rumor has the Miami Heat interested in Collin Sexton and Kevin Love of the Cavs.
The Cavs may have finally found a team that wants to take on the contract of Kevin Love. The Miami Heat are a team that has a rumored interest in the Cavaliers’ big man, but that’s not all. Apparently, the rumor also suggests the Heat may want Collin Sexton as well.
Granted, there’s no clear sign if it’s an either-or situation, or if it’s a “both please” situation, but the rumors are starting to…Heat up…
Bad puns aside, let’s look at three potential trades that could get Love to South Beach and give us some summertime fun with new, young pieces.
Kevin Love dumped on the Heat
Now in every instance, the Cavs are going to have to do some work to make the move. Right now the best trade to get rid of Kevin Love’s contract involves basically nothing. The Cavs would ship Love and Damyean Dotson to Miami for Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, and a Heat 2022 second-round draft pick.
Now both Dragic and Iguodala have a team option for the 2021-2022 season. It’s unclear if the Cavs have to pick up the option before the trade, or if they can make the trade now, decline the option, and let them leave in free agency when it officially starts.
Regardless, both men have one year left on their current deals and it’s very likely that if the Cavs did have to pick up their options, that they would just buy them out anyway because their contracts (buy out or not) would come off their books following the 2021-2022 season.
This is a specific
Collin Sexton sent to the Heat in a trade.
Now, this is a straight-up trade, that right now doesn’t work as-is. The Heat would have to decline a contract to make room for Collin Sexton’s contract, which admittedly isn’t very big. The Heat just have very little room and Sexton’s deal is just the tiniest bit more than the trade allowances will allow according to the NBA Trade Machine.
Now, if they end the deal of Goran Dragic or Andre Iguodala, then this deal could be made. The Cavs would get back a guard/forward in Tyler Herro, who is an exceptionally talented player and in exchange the Heat gets Sexton.
This is actually a win/win for both teams. The Heat need a ball-handler that isn’t a pull-up shooter. They have a lot of those already. They’ll likely bring back Duncan Robinson, and will look to improve their team around a pretty perimeter-based offense. Bringing in Sexton would also allow them to shop for Victor Oladipo to continue to improve the team.
For the Cavs, they need three-point shooting and perimeter defense. Herro isn’t great defensively but he’s better than the Cavs had, and should get better at it as the years go on. Plus, his shooting is so good. In Miami, he was often behind three or four other guys per night, an issue he won’t have in Cleveland.
Herro could potentially turn into the player that Miami fans had hoped he would be after a stellar rookie year.
Kevin Love and Collin Sexton sent to Miami in a trade.
Now, this is the big trade, the one that gets everything done in one fell swoop. This is the trade that rids the Cavs of Kevin Love’s albatross contract and gets a talent swap for Collin Sexton. The major point of emphasis on this trade is that Kevin Love is viewed as a positive asset by both teams, which a player that a team would want. Normally, people think of Love as a negative asset, or a player who would need to be traded alongside a more desirable item; like a first-round draft pick.
If the Heat view Love as a potential trade target, we can assume that they view him as a positive trade asset. So this time, no draft picks are going to Cleveland from Miami. Instead, Cleveland would send three-second-round picks in the 2022 NBA Draft to the Heat as part of the deal.
The Heat would get those three picks, Sexton, Love, Dylan Windler, and Damyean Dotson for Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, a sing-and-traded Duncan Robinson, and Tyler Herro.
In this scenario, the Cavs may just keep all four men instead of releasing Iguodala and Dragic.
This is obviously the most desirable of the three trades, as it gets you a player like Herro who can score from anywhere, especially from behind the arc, as well as Duncan Robinson, who’s become one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA. This would instantly improve the Cavs’ offense and would allow them to draft a forward to replace Love, or a guard to replace Sexton (and maybe Darius Garland?), while then moving Larry Nance Jr. or Dean Wade into the starting lineup to replace Love.
The team gets instantly faster, more athletic, and more dangerous offensively, while the Heat get a big who can stretch the court to take the pressure off of Bam Adebayo, and a combo guard who would play well with Jimmy Butler and play on a team that would help cover up his defensive liabilities.
The Heat would also then re-sign Kendrick Nunn to help their perimeter game stay frosty, pairing him with Love and potentially Victor Oladipo.
It’s a win-win for both clubs.