Cavaliers open to trading Kevin Love

The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost two out of their big three All-Stars of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love after Irving was traded to Boston last summer and James joined the Lakers on Sunday.

Love has stunningly outlasted both stars despite being constantly involved in trade talks during his entire tenure in Cleveland.

Well, Love can’t rest easy just yet — Jason Lloyd is reporting that Kevin Love is on the market.

They’re certainly no longer championship contenders. Despite insistence from the organization that they are not interested in trading Love, multiple sources from around the league insist they are indeed open to moving him. It makes perfect sense to deal him now.

This isn’t particularly surprising. The Cavaliers have a top-10 protected first-round pick that’s headed to Atlanta if the team wins too many games. The team isn’t exactly incentivized to try to re-build the team around Love with a bloated payroll and not much in the way of short-term talent on the team.

It’s not easy to find a trade for Love though - he can opt out of his contract after next season, and that should depress his value on the trade market. He also means a lot more to the Cavaliers than he does to most teams, as his skill-set is out of fashion and his reputation has taken several (unfair) hits over the past four years.

Those are the sacrifices you make while being a third fiddle next to LeBron James, and I’m sure Love would make them every time - still, it hasn’t helped his perception around the league.

The Cavaliers have plenty of time to regroup, and don’t need to trade Love this offseason. A deadline deal might present more options. Until we get some more clarity, it’s hard to say.