The Cleveland Cavaliers will likely end up with Kevin Love at some point as the other contenders -- Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors -- having interest in the power forward can not or will not meet the demands from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Should the Cavs and Wolves come to terms, the deal won't be finalized for a while due to some trade rules via the collective bargaining agreement.
First, the Cavs need to sign Andrew Wiggins to help make the salary numbers match up. Currently his outgoing value is zero, but that will increase to $5.51 million as soon he signs his rookie-scale contract. Once that occurs the Cavs will have to wait 30 days before Wiggins is trade-eligible.
Second, the Cavs acquired three players from the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, according to Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst, and at least one of them can't be traded for two months since Cleveland went over the salary cap to complete the deal. Those players are guard John Lucas III and forwards Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas.
There is a lot of rumors that Minnesota wants to include guard Kevin Martin as part of a Love trade and the Cavs will need to send back all three of the players from the Jazz if they hang on to center Brendan Haywood.
As of Wednesday, the earliest Love could join the Cavs is Aug. 23 if Wiggins signs his contract today. The latest is Sept. 22 if Lucas III, Murphy and Thomas are part of the package for Love and Martin.
