The recent rookie signings of Doug McDermott in Chicago and Andrew Wiggins in Cleveland put the possibility of a Kevin Love trade in a temporary holding pattern.
Rookies cannot be traded in the first 30 days after signing their deals, so we are looking at late August before Minnesota Timberwolves GM Flip Saunders can complete a deal for his All-Star power forward.
But that doesn’t mean Saunders can’t discuss those deals or another possible trade with the Golden State Warriors, whose proposal does not include a signed first-round pick.
Which deal should Saunders and the Wolves take? SheridanHoops staff members discuss in the latest edition of the Three-Man Weave.
1. Chicago’s package of Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott: Good offer or bad offer?
CHRIS SHERIDAN, PUBLISHER: Great offer. I would be surprised if it is not the offer that Flip Saunders wants to take. Gibson and Mirotic immediately become starters, and McDermott has a high ceiling. The Timberwolves become a playoff team now, instead of waiting on prospects. And that keeps Ricky Rubio happy at a time when the Wolves need to lock him up long term. Mirotic, despite his roots in Montenegro, is a member of the Spanish National Team, like Ricky.
CHRIS BERNUCCA, MANAGING EDITOR: Bad offer. While the Timberwolves do get three rotation players and an upgrade in perimeter shooting, there is not a stud or future stud among them. Taking three players for one also means Minnesota would have to waive a player (likely Ronny Turiaf). If I were Flip Saunders, this deal would also have to include a future first-round pick; the Bulls have some extra ones. I 
would also want Chicago to take back another contract, perhaps Kevin Martin or Chase Budinger for Mike Dunleavy’s expiring deal.
SHLOMO SPRUNG, COLUMNIST: If Flip Saunders wants a mix of players who can help both now and later, this would be the one to take. Taj Gibson has proven he can be a very good big man in this league and could definitely start on a playoff team. Mirotic is not your ordinary rookie, having won MVP of the Spanish league in 2013. He can contribute right away and space the floor with Ricky Rubio distributing. McDermott is another solid floor spacer who could at least be a good bench scorer. This offer doesn’t really have any players with bust potential.
2. Golden State’s offer of Klay Thompson, David Lee and Harrison Barnes: Good offer or bad offer?
SHERIDAN: It hasn’t been offered, so it is a trick question. Look, it is no surprise the Timberwolves want Thompson. He is a stud player who is overshadowed by his stud backcourt mate. Lee is solid and Barnes could become something special if people could exhibit some patience. But again, it hasn’t been offered. And I don’t think the Warriors braintrust of Steve Kerr and Bob Myers will offer it.
BERNUCCA: Sheridan is right; if this had been offered, it would be done already. It’s not a great offer but it is a good offer, because the three rotation players are better than Chicago’s package. And the cash imbalance allows Minnesota to include Martin or Budinger. But when exactly did Klay Thompson become a max player? He’s not better than Stephen Curry (4 years, $44 million). And after trading Love, Saunders has to overpay find a way to keep Ricky Rubio. Even after Lee’s deal expires in 2016, Minnesota will have at least 
three eight-figure players – Thompson, Rubio and Nikola Pekovic – through 2017-18, and that doesn’t include an extension for Barnes.
SPRUNG: Even if it were offered, I would not take this if I were Minnesota, especially given the other offers on the table. David Lee has time and again proven a defensive liability and probably is not a winning player. He’s a very good player, but just a contract at this point. We don’t know what Harrison Barnes could turn into, but he HAS been disappointing thus far. But Barnes isn’t the problem. Klay Thompson is a really good player, but what he WIll ask for in his next contract scares me. Thompson isn’t a max player, and if Avery Bradley got $8 million a year, you know Thompson will ask for a whole lot more. Kyle Lowry just got $12 million and I don’t think Thompson is a better player as the centerpiece of this offer.
3. Cleveland’s offer of Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, non-guaranteed contracts and a future first-round pick: Good offer or bad offer?
SHERIDAN: Fair offer, but I think Cleveland will need to throw in another first-round pick to outbid Chicago. The Cavaliers can trade Miami’s pick or Memphis’ pick in 2015, but not their own pick. Why not offer Minnesota both the Heat’s pick and the Grizzlies’ pick? If that is what it takes to both trump Chicago’s offer and keep LeBron James happy, why not?
BERNUCCA: This is the best offer, although I agree that Minnesota should hold out for another first-round pick as Bennett Bust Insurance (and because it still owes Phoenix a first-round pick). No player in any of 
these deals has a higher ceiling than Wiggins, who is going to be an All-Star and a tremendous two-way player. And with a max extension down the road, the Wolves will have at least seven years to put a team around Wiggins. The problem with this deal is that it does not allow Saunders to dump another contract on Cleveland, which I really believe should keep Wiggins.
SPRUNG: I don’t understand for the life of me why Minnesota hasn’t accepted this trade offer yet. Star free agents are never going to sign in Minnesota, and keeping stars has proven difficult (see Love, Kevin). So you’re getting Andrew Wiggins, who has a pretty good chance to be a future All-Star, along with Anthony Bennett, who showed encouraging signs of vitality in Las Vegas, and a future first-round pick along with the opportunity to dump a bad contract like Kevin Martin’s or J.J. Barea’s. When the 30 days are up after Wiggins’ contract signing, don’t overthink. Just do the deal so we can stop talking about it.
The NBA is a stars league. A potential star outweighs a handful of role players. Why do I keep reading articles that blatantly ignore this?
Mirotic, a 29 y/o Gibson and Dougie McBuckets isn’t better than Wiggins. And all signs in Chicago say that Mirotic was never even offered. And why would they offer him? He basically needed a guarantee that something like this wouldn’t happen for him to league Europe behind. If Chicago went back on that trust, their reputation would take a serious hit.
The Golden State offer is another fanciful one. The Warriors aren’t offering a stud for Love when Love can simply pack up and leave at the end of the year (which he probably would if they couldn’t find some more help).
I’m not even sure why the Cavs are offering Wiggins, other than they’re convinced a package featuring Waiters isn’t good enough to beat other offers that actually do exist.
Chris is right. Bulls proposal beats everything else on the board. Mirotic is as good if not better than Wiggins, in my estimation. McBuckets is a lot like Wally World. Taj Gibbon is solid and a powerful D help for a team that scored but didn’t defend.
I would prefer bankable talent than unproven talent with high potential and some hype.
Hey, Chris Bernucca, since there isn’t a Reply button under your comment to my comment I have to create a new comment above my original comment. I hope you see it. I will attempt to take the high road here. I don’t believe that I said that you could not obtain KLove in a trade using 2 out of the 3 contracts of Wiggins, Bennett, and Waiters. In fact, I said you could, but that it would not be good for the future of the Cavaliers franchise since the average age of the three is somewhere in the low 20’s. However, trading Andy, and Lucas III also works to obtain KLove. Yes, LJames said that Andy was one of his faves, but would you keep an injury prone player on your roster or give up 2 young players to get KLove? Minnesota would probably cut Andy, and I know the Cavs would have to wait a year to resign him, but I’m pretty sure LJames could survive a year without his good buddy in order to keep the young guys. If you have throw in Murphy too, big whoop (Thomas can’t be traded with another player since the Cave obtained him while they were over the cap, BTW).
Kevin Love has made it known that no matter where he ends up, he’s not opting in to the last year of his contract. Any team he’s traded to would obviously have the inside track on maintaining his services, but he plans on becoming a free agent at the end of the year. Unless that changes, it is a huge risk to give up cheap, talented players to acquire him. If LBJ would leave after one season because he’s not happy with the team not acquiring Love, how happy would he be if Love left as a FA? If there’s any chance LBJ leaves, it’s a good reason NOT to trade Wiggins. Anyone else on the roster beside Irving should be in play, but not Wiggins.
“I don’t understand for the life of me why Minnesota hasn’t accepted this trade offer yet.”
You don’t understand? Really? It hasn’t been accepted because it has NEVER been offered by the Cavs!
clowns
agreed – if the Cavs had ever actually offered Wiggins, Bennett, and picks for Love, the deal would have been closed. Maybe they will pony up Wiggins, but at this point, I there doesn’t seem to be anything contradicting Cleveland’s repeated statements that Wiggins is not on the table.
“I don’t understand for the life of me why Minnesota hasn’t accepted this trade offer yet.”
Comments like this, especially so late in the Kevin Love derby, show a complete lack of knowledge on how trades and the salary cap work in the NBA. Here is both the long and the short of this situation, they can’t accept that trade yet.
Actually you are wrong here. They can accept and agree in principle to the trade they just cannot make it public. So who really knows they may have already accepted the Bulls or Cavs offers.
With Love telling teams he plans to sign w/CLE no matter what, Minnesota will have to accept Varajao, Lucas III, and 3 #1 draft picks (Miami’s & Memphis’s in 2015 and CLE’s in 2018) and like it.
There is 0% chance the Cavs trade Varajao.
He can come back for the ’15-’16 season.
The Cavs have no interest in trading Varejao, and why would the Wolves want him, other than to cut payroll. I the Cavs are able to squeeze the Wolves into a deal, it will be by leaving Wiggins out.
The only way to make a Love trade work is to include Andy or 2 out these 3, Waiters, Bennett, and/or Wggins; who have an average age of like 22. Sure, some people will have a sad, but once it is patiently and logically explained that it is best for the fuure of the franchise, folks will get over it. Minnesota will go for it because they get 3 #1’s which is the best they’ll do under the circumstances.
Bennett and Wiggins make $11.1 million. Murphy, Lucas and Malcolm Thomas make another $3 million plus. That’s over $14 million, well within the 125 percent range of Love’s $15.7 million. Thanks for reading
As long as the Cavs’ outgoing salary is $9.8M to $19.6M (and they don’t go into the tax after the trade – which they wouldn’t), they would only need to be within $5M, which means they only need to send $10.7M to take back Love. This means they could send ONLY Bennett + Wiggins for Love, no other filler is needed.
depending on specifics, which are almost impossible to confirm, either all three players the cavs acquired from utah or possibly just malcolm (based on playing with cap rules and order of signings/trades) cannot be included in a trade with other pieces from the cavs for 60 days. that 60 day provision applies to any players acquired while over the cap or in a deal which put them over (hence why the order of moves matters so much).
so depending on those specifics, they may or may not be able to use murphy and lucas in a love trade but they cannot use malcolm (and possibly murphy or lucas also) for about a month after the 30 days for wiggins is up.
either they aren’t planning to include them/murphy or they’re going to have to wait even longer to make that trade for the 60 days to expire.
but with all that said, i really hope the cavs hang on to wiggins.