The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly reached an agreement with the Minnesota Timberwolves about a trade involving superstar forward Kevin Love, who has been mentioned in several NBA trade rumors this summer.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves have already reached an agreement in principle about a trade that would send Love to Cleveland, joining fellow All-Stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
In exchange, the Timberwolves, who failed to convince Love to sign a long-term contract extension, will acquire 2014 first overall pick Andrew Wiggins, 2013 top pick Anthony Bennett, and a 2015 first-round pick.
"The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached an agreement in principle to send All-Star forward Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick, league sources told Yahoo Sports," Wojnarowski confirmed.
Aside from the most-likely framework of the deal, Wojnarowski also revealed that the Cavaliers secured an agreement that Love will opt out of his deal after next season and sign a new five-year deal.
"Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension," Wojnarowski wrote.
Both teams cannot officially announce the trade as NBA rules prohibits a rookie from being traded within 30 days after signing his first contract. Wiggins signed his rookie contract on July 24, making him ineligible to be traded until Aug. 23.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor recently said that the Love will likely be traded on Aug. 23 or 24, and Thursday's reports confirmed that he was indeed talking about a deal with the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers made a strong push to acquire Love even though they showed resistance on Wiggins' involvement in the deal. Cleveland eventually gave into Minnesota's demand, fearing that the Chicago Bulls could beat them in the race to acquire the superstar power forward.
"Part of the Cavaliers' motivation in making the deal for Love was a belief Love would have ended up with the rival Chicago Bulls in a trade and created a significant obstacle in the Eastern Conference, sources said. Cleveland wouldn't have had the salary-cap space to sign Love next summer," Wojnarowski wrote.
