Cleveland Cavaliers Roster & Rumors: Cavs To Trade Kevin Love This Summer?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are facing tough decisions this summer after their failed title bid last season as most of their key players will hit free agency, including superstars LeBron James and Kevin Love.
James, who returned to Cleveland last season after spending four years in Miami, is expected to opt out of the second year of his deal with the Cavaliers, but is expected to sign a new deal and stay.
Love, on the other hand, is also expected to opt out of the final year of his contract to seek a new deal, but it is not set in stone whether or not the All-Star power forward will still be in Cleveland next season.
The Cavaliers are expected to give into the contract demands of Love, but that does not mean he will start next season in a Wine and Gold uniform.
According to Zach Lowe of Grantland, most executive are convinced the Cavaliers will execute a sign-and-trade deal to free up more minutes for Tristan Thompson and starting center Timofey Mozgov, who both played well for Cleveland during the 2015 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
Love struggled to fit into his new team last season and his struggles proved he needs to dominate the ball to produce big numbers, which might not be possible in Cleveland because of James. Even Cavaliers general manager David Griffin admitted that they cannot have a lot of ball-dominant players in the roster to become an effective team.
"LeBron needs to have the ball so much for you to be as good as you can be, and you need to be very selective about the guys who get to have it when he does not," Griffin said. "You cannot have too much ball dominance around him."
Griffin sounded like they are more inclined to keep Thompson, who can be effective off the ball because of his prowess in getting the offensive boards and defense.
Thompson, who averaged 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last season, will become a restricted free agent this summer. Late last month, James voiced out his support to Thompson, saying the 24-year-old power forward should be a Cavalier for the rest of his career.
"This guy is 24 years old. He's played in 340-plus straight games, and he's gotten better every single season," James said of Thompson. "It's almost like what more can you ask out of a guy, even though we ask for more out of him."
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