Kevin Love trade to Cavaliers is officially complete

Kevin Love’s message to Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor: stop worrying about me and focus on your own team. The new Cavaliers forward fired back in an interview on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” after Taylor criticized his former player.

Love admitted that “emotions are running high” for Taylor, but still did not excuse the comments Taylor made at the Minnesota State Fair following the introductory press conference for Wiggins, Bennett and Young. The Timberwolves’ owner told reporters that he wasn’t sure Love would fit in well alongside other stars like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Kevin Love has been busting his ass trying to win games in a hopeless situation for years and Taylor is out there accusing him of not playing defense. Love scored 2,000 points last season. Only one other Timberwolf scored even 1,000. And we’re talking about Kevin Love not doing enough? He more than doubled the next Timberwolf in total rebounds. He was second in assists. Forgive me for thinking Love did enough for Minnesota to absolve himself of criticism about effort.

Kevin Love is not the reason the Timberwolves have the league’s longest active playoff drought. (Ten straight lottery seasons and counting in Minneapolis. That’s more than double Cleveland’s streak.) In fact, the only common thread throughout Minnesota’s long drought is ... Glen Taylor!

Taylor also criticized Love’s defensive effort and that he got away with things in Minnesota that he might not in Cleveland.

Taylor maintained that he and Love are still friends, all criticism aside. That said, this is not the first time Taylor has publicly criticized a former franchise icon after being jettisoned from the team. In 2008, Taylor accused Kevin Garnett of “tanking” at the end of the NBA season.

“The King” of “The Land” seems excited for a new chapter with the Cavaliers.

And if you’re ready to slide into your own Love Cavaliers jersey, they’re ready for purchase on the Cavaliers’ team shop:

There was some early debate over trading Wiggins, but Cleveland relented and ultimately came to an agreement in principle to acquire Love, who had a career year in Minnesota last season, averaging 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds.

Love won’t sign a long-term extension immediately, but he’s expected to opt out of his contract after next season and then sign a new max contract in Cleveland. The Cavs will be a formidable power for years to come with the 25-year-old Love entering his prime, James in his prime, and Irving still just 22 years old.

Seeing that the end of Love’s tenure in Minnesota was essentially a drawn out formality, it’s hard to blame Minnesota for celebrating that it’s finally over.

Bledsoe and his camp have been firm in their request for a five-year, $85 million max contract. The Suns are offering $48 million over four years. Bledsoe has not fielded an offer from another team in free agency, perhaps because Phoenix has made it public that they’d match any offer to the point guard.

The 24-year-old Bledsoe is reportedly poised to accept the one-year qualifying offer from Phoenix if he’s not given a max contract. That would make Bledsoe an unrestricted free agent a year from now. The point guard is coming off the best season of his career for a 48-win Suns team, averaging 17.7 points and 5.5 assists per game. Bledsoe does have a history of knee injuries, which could be scaring the Suns away from a long-term financial commitment.

Here are the specifics of the trade:

The Timberwolves will also receive a $4 million trade exception by virtue of sending out more salary than they took in.

The Timberwolves are still angling to get Thaddeus Young from the Philadelphia 76ers, though, potentially sending Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Alexey Shved and a draft pick to get it done. Here’s one way the trade could look:

However, Zgoda says “don’t believe it” of Bennett-to-Philly. Instead, the Timberwolves apparently want to keep the former UNLV star, which does make a good deal of sense given where the team will be competitively after giving up its franchise player in Love. Swapping Bennett for Young would’ve been a short-term move, which doesn’t really mesh with the rest of what Minnesota is doing.

The Kansas Jayhawks head coach told The Associated Press on Sunday that Wiggins thinks playing for the Timberwolves will help him carve out his own place in the NBA. Wiggins declined to meet with the media in Kansas City after helping his former coach run a basketball camp, but Self said Wiggins is excited to be traded.

For a while now, Wiggins has fought off the perception of not being an alpha-dog on the court. Now, he’s not only accepting the fact of what he is but embracing the challenge of changing.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst first reported that a Love trade had been agreed to in principle. The deal can’t be completed until August 23 due to NBA trade rules. Players cannot be traded within 30 days of signing a contract, and Wiggins signed his rookie deal in late July.

The Timberwolves have not made the playoffs since 2004. The Cavaliers, who of course added LeBron James this offseason, have not made the playoffs since 2010. That should change for at least one of those teams in 2015.

“The deal is done, but not done,” Windhorst said. “The teams have agreed, but they can’t say they have agreed and they can’t agree because we are in this weird moratorium period. Because you can’t trade Andrew Wiggins until the 23rd of this month.”

If a deal does go through, it will be most interesting to see how quickly T-Wolves president and coach Flip Saunders can retool. Speaking to the Pioneer Press, Taylor even hinted at what was to come following a Love trade.

James’ decision to go back to Cleveland in free agency ignited the Love-to-Cleveland rumors earlier this month. James made his announcement in a letter with Sports Illustrated, and didn’t name Wiggins and Bennett alongside other members of the Cavs who he said he was excited to play with.

Love turns 26 years old before the start of next season and just posted one of the most impressive individual seasons in the NBA. He finished third in PER behind only James and MVP Kevin Durant while averaging 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. He’ll be the third member of James’ new “big three”, joining LeBron and point guard Kyrie Irving. It would give Cleveland three players earning max contracts well into the future assuming Love extends his deal a year from now.

The NBA’s biggest stars will play for Team USA this August-September as America tries to win its second straight FIBA Basketball World Cup, but Kevin Love won’t be among them as he wonders which NBA team he’ll play for next season:

Well, whichever one it is, he won’t be with Team USA, robbing the American squad of his spectacular rebounding and a shooting big man, which is so important in the international game. Although we’re sure Kevin Durant will be alright as a stretch four.

The Cleveland Cavaliers officially signed Andrew Wiggins to a rookie-scale contract this week, the team announced. The deal will be the standard four years for all rookies, with the last two as team options. It will start at $4.59 million.

This is usually a formality with all first-round draft picks, but became a matter of intrigue because Wiggins is involved heavily in Kevin Love trade rumors. Signing Wiggins means the Cavaliers cannot trade him for 30 days, according to NBA rules. Had the Cavaliers dealt Wiggins before signing him, his salary would have been considered $0 like any future draft pick.

Forward Nikola Mirotic may be included in the deal, but the newspaper couldn’t confirm that.

McDermott signed his rookie deal with the Bulls on Tuesday, and any trade couldn’t go through until a month has passed. The teams could agree on a deal in principle, but first the Timberwolves and president Flip Saunders would have to go over his options.

But these aren’t normal circumstances. They say that “the exception proves the rule.” This is one of those situations.

James signed a two-year contract, and no one doubts that if he finds the current situation unsuitable, he’ll bail in 2016. (How could anyone doubt that after he’s changed teams in free agency twice in two opportunities?) With LeBron on a short deal, you build for right freaking now.

Lucas, Thomas and Murphy are all on non-guaranteed contracts, making them valuable assets in a trade as SB Nation’s Mike Prada outlined earlier on Tuesday. Together, the three make up $3.6 million in non-guaranteed money that an incoming team -- Minnesota -- could immediately waive in order to clear cap space.

Although there was some confusion on Twitter about the order of operations, Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com tweeted on Tuesday that since the Cavaliers are under the salary cap, it allows them to immediately trade all three players again. Of course, Cleveland could keep one or all three of them.

While the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls have also pursued Kevin Love this summer, the Cleveland Cavaliers are becoming increasingly confident they have what it takes to secure the star power forward in a trade, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. Cleveland is reportedly offering a trade package that would include Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and draft picks.

The Timerwolves have been hesitant to move Love this offseason before carefully considering each trade package, but by offering the No. 1 pick in each of the last two drafts, Cleveland is putting itself in position to blow the competition out of the water. If Wiggins and Bennett are really on the table, it’s going to be hard for Minnesota to find a more appealing offer. That is, of course, unless the Wolves want to keep Love for next season in hopes of convincing him to re-sign.

The Chicago Bulls are getting back in the Kevin Love sweepstakes, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst. Love has been primarily pursed by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors as he enters the final year of his contract with the Timberwolves before he can exercise an opt-out clause, but Minnesota has been deliberate in its decision to part with star power forward.

Chicago’s proposal isn’t known yet, but it’s believed to center on power forward Taj Gibson and wing Jimmy Butler. The Bulls already boast an improved front court after adding Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic in free agency. If Mirotic was to be included in the Love trade, the Bulls would have to wait 30 days from the time he signed his contract.

Such contracts have become more common around the league. They count for the purposes of matching salary in any deal, but the players on them can be released anytime for no charge once the trade is completed. This may or may not have value to the Timberwolves or anyone else involved in the transaction, but every asset, however valuable, matters when trying to acquire a superstar, especially while simultaneously trying to hold on to your most recent No. 1 pick.

... like they did earlier in the summer.