Glen Taylor has indicated a trade to send star Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers is inevitable.
Taylor said the All-Star forward is expected to be dealt around August 23-24, which happens to be the time when Cavs rookie Andrew Wiggins is eligible to be traded after he signed a four-year deal on July 24. Neither team can acknowledge a trade until 30 days pass from Wiggins’ signing.
“I’m saying it’s most likely because Kevin has made it pretty clear that that’s what he wants to do,” Taylor told the Minnesota-based newspaper St. Paul Pioneer Press.
A trade is reportedly already in place that would send Love to Cleveland in exchange for Wiggins, 2013 first overall draft selection Anthony Bennett and a future first round pick.
Love’s future with Minnesota has been up in the air all summer after the 25-year-old expressed his desire to move on from the team he’s played for his entire six-year career.
He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next offseason and is not likely to ink an extension even if he’s traded because re-signing after the end of his current contract can yield a more lucrative deal.
“I think when you move somebody like Kevin, who’s been an All- Star, that you’ve got to get a number of players on your team that have the potential of replacing him,” Taylor said. “Flip [Saunders, team president and coach] has looked at this team and offensively, he’s got a pretty good team.
“Defensively, it’s got to be better, so I think that’s where some of the areas will be replaced.”
Wiggins responded to the trade rumours while in Tarrytown, New York, for a photo shoot.
“I just want to play for a team that wants me. So whichever team wants me I’ll play for,” he told ESPN. “At the end of the day you have to remember that the NBA is a business before anything. I’m a rookie. I really don’t have too much to say.”