If the Cavs blow it up, the Suns should target Kevin Love

The Cleveland Cavaliers currently lead their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Toronto Raptors. But if they don’t win it all and blow it up, the Phoenix Suns can be a positive recipient.

As Phoenix Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough makes his plans for rebuilding the roster around his core young studs, he will certainly look for bargain deals throughout the league, seeking star talent at prices that makes their acquisition worthwhile and plausible.

What he’ll be looking for are situations like that of the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Cleveland Cavaliers: teams with star talent that are either not happy, or that the teams are going to shift their approaches and rid themselves of stars to either begin a rebuild or seek championship status with different talent.

Phoenix Suns

Kawhi Leonard is of course the biggest of those potential available stars this summer, apparently so disgruntled in San Antonio that he might be willing to forego $50M+ in supermax money to leave. Paul George is another big time name, although he’s not necessarily disgruntled. Oklahoma City has a core of players who don’t seem to fit together all that well, and if George opted out of his current contract, he can make a huge splash in free agency maxing out with any team he chooses, albeit with the Lakers as the presumed front runners.

Another big time name is Kevin Love. While not disgruntled and with no apparent reason for the Cleveland Cavaliers to move on from him just yet, if the Cavaliers do not win the Finals this year, and especially if LeBron James jumps ship, then Cleveland might accept that the end is here and begin to rebuild post-LeBron immediately, looking to move on from Kevin Love for some young talent and/or picks quickly.

The Suns are currently on the lookout for veteran players who are more than just eye candy on billboards. They want stars who will contribute on the court as well as be a step up above the talent that they have right now. Presumably besides the shooting guard position, an upgrade could be argued in one way or another, power forward being one of the absolute weakest positions Phoenix must improve this offseason.

Kevin Love would fit into every one of those pre-formed ideas about how to improve the roster this offseason. As a veteran player with much playoff experience and a championship under his belt, he would be a veteran leader in the mold of Tyson Chandler, providing leadership through experience that McDonogh has been seeking for several years.

Kevin Love is a bonafied star. While his statistical output is certainly diminishing, per game, his per-36 statistics are exactly where they have been throughout his career with his 3-point shooting falling a literal hair  below his career-high set seven seasons ago.

While somewhat older than the Suns’ current core (he will be close to 30 when the season starts), Kevin Love will not be relied upon as a core piece, rather the third or fourth scoring option at all times, with the skills to take over a game when necessary, regardless of the scenario. His defensive rebounding would likely spike a bit with the Suns – especially if they are able to draft Luka Doncic – and his outlet passing would play very well into the strengths of Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss. Heck, imagine lineups with Love and Tyson Chandler. Those two combined would be black holes on the defensive rebounding front, both being tremendous at that responsibility, and both being above average passers.

His contract is such that he has one year at $24+M this coming season, with a player option of $25.5+ in 2019-20. Love would be up for one more big deal, presumably at max or near-max dollars, which Phoenix could negotiate upon his acquisition. My expectation would be that they would want to add three years to a deal (probably not a full five based on his age), but might even be willing to find middle ground adding a fourth if Love would be willing to accept below the max.

At that point, it would be up to what the cost of acquisition would be.

If the Cavaliers are blowing the team up post-Leron, then my instinct would be that because of Love’s age and the fact that he is nearing the end of his contract, that he could be had relatively  cheap.

Presumably the Cavaliers would want a package of young pieces to help build their team around, as well as cap relief to help with acquiring free agents in the near future.

Of course Phoenix’s 2018 first round pick would be off the table, and if that’s what Cleveland would set his value at,  then they’ll never find a suitable trade partner. Untouchable too would be young stars like Booker and Jackson, with T.J. Warren too off the table, except for in one circumstance, a one-for-one trade with maybe the 2018 second round pick as the sweetener.

If I were to speculate at what would be a fair market value for Love from the Phoenix Suns’ perspective, I’d put it at thus:

Two young players and future cap space for one aging star would be the best that Cleveland would receive from anyone, and from the Suns’ perspective, would not be too much to scoff at.

While I still have high hopes that Chriss can be a productive NBA player moving forward, especially if he can convert to center, I still hold a sincere fear that he will never be more than a player of the Tyrus Thomas-ilk, hyper-athletic with no actual offensive game. The hope that he can put it together though, and that he had a decent end to the 2017-18 season, does provide him with some value and he is still a good trade piece of a younger player for a veteran.

Miami’s first round pick could very likely be traded by the Suns on draft day anyway as they can only fit so many young players on a roster with the necessity to improve the roster with skilled veterans, and is particularly expendable if the Suns land either DeAndre Ayton or Luka Doncic at the top of the draft.

Jared Dudley serves as a contractual need to make the trade work initially, and when his deal is up after this season (or Cleveland buys him out at some point), he offers the Cavaliers cap relief as they head into the free agency period of 2019.

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All-in-all, if Ryan McDonough is dedicated to improving the Phoenix Suns with veteran talent and looking to win now (presumably “win now” meaning just make the playoffs and start building from there), then seeking star talent at low prices is a way of putting such a team together that can be sustained while filling gaping roster gaps right away.

Kevin Love can be one of those kinds of players, and I believe, should actually be a specific target this offseason, should the Cavaliers look to move on from their aging star, and are willing to take him on at an affordable rate to the Suns.