Cavs: The trade market for Kevin Love is nonexistent

Koby Altman may have seriously screwed up with Kevin Love.

The Cavs were hoping to move Kevin Love this offseason in a trade. Then reports came out that teams were seriously interested in acquiring Love via a trade, but only if it came with a chip or two like Collin Sexton. With the Cavaliers now looking more and more likely to keep Sexton, the team may not have the pieces needed to move Love. This, despite the fact there are teams who want him.

Cue Sam Amico, who spoke to an NBA general manager who said there is no trade market for Love. Amico wrote;

"While teams such as the Warriors, Pelicans and others expressed minimal interest after the season, an opposing general manager recently told Hoops Wire that there is currently “no market” for Love."

There are numerous teams serious about acquiring the former All-Star, just not at his current price point. A price point that is made only worse when you realize the Cavs have wasted away any and all negotiation power with the constant leaks to the media. Love is going to have his minutes cut in 2021-2022, which is just a sign the Cavs don’t see him as a long-term fit.

If you don’t want something around long-term, then you don’t see much value in it. This is the problem with the way the Cavs have handled Love, they’ve made it abundantly clear that they don’t want Love. Why would you offer up anything at all to get him if you know he isn’t wanted where he is.

There’s no point in delaying a buyout of Kevin Love at this point

If you were the Cavs, you could argue that Love is going to get minutes and his improved play will help us unload him onto another team. Except that’s exactly the opposite of what they’re doing. They’re seemingly willing to just eat his deal and play him as a role player. Considering his temperamental attitude, and his belief that he’s a starter still, that’s only going to be an even bigger headache to deal with in the locker room.

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There’s quite honestly no good reason to not buy him out now, and save yourself the headache. Even if he plays 20 minutes a game and plays well, that’s still not going to entice people to come knocking. He’ll still be seen as a bench player who costs over $30 million and no one is going to want to trade for that when they can find players just as effective for a fraction of the cost.

If releasing Love is something GM Koby Altman wants to avoid because of how bad the optics would look, then he should wake up; because it’s far too late. It looks bad and it’s only looking worse. At this point, it feels like a jilted spouse who’s so hell-bent on “winning” that they stay in a toxic relationship out of spite. There’s no good to become of this relationship anymore.

Even if the Cavs double-back and reevaluate their thought process by giving Love more minutes, it still wouldn’t work. It’d be an act of desperation, and every GM in the league would know it. Buy him out, let him go finish what’s left of his career on the west coast, and just put Dean Wade in Love’s spot.

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