The Cleveland Cavaliers are now reportedly willing to include Andrew Wiggins in a trade for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who has been mentioned in several trade rumors over the past several weeks.
Previous reports indicated that the Cavaliers were unwilling to trade Wiggins, the first-overall pick in this year's draft, with newly-named head coach David Blatt saying that the rookie is not going anywhere.
However, Cavs beat writer Bob Finnan of the News Herald reported that the Cavaliers are now open to moving Wiggins because LeBron James wants to play alongside the All-Star power forward.
James is reportedly intrigued with Wiggins' potential, but the four-time Most Valuable Player is on a win-now mentality, which is the reason why he wants to play with Love instead of the 19-year-old rookie.
"A source said James wants the 6-10, 250-pound Love on the roster," Finnan wrote. "And, what James wants, he normally gets. The thinking is that Wiggins is going to be a very good player, a possible All-Star player, in time. But he's raw. He's a long way away from reaching that potential."
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, James, who recently signed a two-year deal with the Cavaliers, has already reached out to Love, convincing him to play in Cleveland.
"LeBron James has reached to tell Kevin Love of his desire for them to play together with the Cavaliers, front office sources tell Yahoo," Wojnarowski posted on his Twitter account.
Sources also indicated that the Cavaliers might offer a package involving Wiggins, 2013 first overall pick Anthony Bennett, and a future first-round pick to the Timberwolves. Brandon Haywood could also be included in the package to make the deal work financially.
Aside from the Cavaliers, the Golden State Warriors are also making a strong push to acquire Love, but the Timberwolves wants Klay Thompson to be included in any trade package.
The Warriors are not willing to part ways with Thompson, though, but it is unclear at this point how the Cavaliers' stance on trading Wiggins will affect the Golden State's approach.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in a recent interview that they won't move Love if they won't get an equal or more talent in the trade.
"My response is that we are going to look at everything that makes sense that would make our team better, but we are not going to move a superb player like that without getting equal or more value back," Taylor said.
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