The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t need to trade Kevin Love to get Gordon Hayward

The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t need to trade Kevin Love to land Gordon Hayward.

Let’s be clear, if the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t trade for Gordon Hayward, that’s ok. He is, when healthy, an excellent fit for the Cavs, but he isn’t always healthy so there is a fair concern for him as an addition to the squad. No one should be in denial about that. If he has a Grant Hill-like transformation in his 30s, stays healthy, and contributes, maybe we’ll be more gungho for Hayward.

But, for now, he’s a solid option to trade for but not much else. All that is said simply so no one can misconstrue what is about to be said, there is no “Hayward or bust” bias here. But facts matter, and after reading Hoops Rumor state that to land Hayward, the Cavs would have to trade Kevin Love, it just had to be rebuffed.

Both Love and Hayward have massive contracts, which is the basis of their claims.

But no, the Cavs can easily land Hayward without losing Love. All the Cavs need to do to make the trade happen is ship over Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro and you can make the deal happen. Frankly, that’s the trade that should happen if nothing better comes along, but no, you don’t need to lose Love to get Hayward.

"Although Gordon Hayward‘s skill set makes the Hornets forward a logical target for the Cavaliers, his $30MM salary makes him a long shot for Cleveland. Kevin Love ($28.9MM) would likely have to be included in a deal for Hayward, and trading Love isn’t a possibility the team has internally considered, according to Fedor, who has previously reported that there’s mutual interest between the Cavs and Love in continuing their relationship beyond this season."

Trading Kevin Love should not be an option

Love is too important to this team to trade him. Not only as a leader, mentor, playoff veteran, or player. No, for the fanbase, Love is an acknowledgment that sometimes franchise legends can end their career with their core team.

Love and the Cavs want to keep the relationship going past 2023, and there are talks of a two or three-year deal that would reduce Love’s salary cap number while keeping the big man in town through the end of his career.

That type of deal is the type of thing fans dream to see. Nobody wants to think about Mark Price in Orlando. No one wants to think of Anderson Varejao as a member of the Warriors. Or Zydrunas Ilgauskas with Miami.

Keep the legends home where they belong.