The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to unload underperforming power forward Kevin Love to make space for shooting guard J.R. Smith in this latest NBA trade rumor.
It has been well documented that J.R. Smith's team and the Cavs organization are in a sort of impasse when it comes to re-signing the talented guard.
The season is about to go underway, and seeing that no progress is still being reported aside from the Cavs apparently giving Smith a competitive offer, it looks like the team is getting desperate to have Smith in a Cavs Uniform next season.
And the Cavs are reported to be willing to trade Kevin Love to get some cap relief to sign up J.R. Smith. Love has been criticized as a poor defender especially in pick and roll situations and his numbers have dipped significantly since donning a Cavs uniform.
Smith, on the other hand, has been a revelation for the Cavs ever since he was acquired from New York. Becoming a worthy starter to play alongside Lebron James and Kyrie Irving as well as a spark off the bench. His defense has been quite valuable to the Cavs rotation.
According to some reports, the Cavs can pull this off by trading Kevin Love to the Thunder for Victor Oladipo. The former rookie of the year plays pretty good defense and could provide a scoring punch off the bench.
The Cavs will definitely miss Kevin Love's spacing abilities on offense, but just might be willing to let that go in order to accommodate J.R. Smith's 15-million-dollar demand for his contract. Plus, the Cavs did sign Mike Dunleavy and will still have Channing Frye, both of which can spread the floor like Love.
If the rumors are true, the Cavs will definitely have a different team from last year's championship crew. The only question now is, will the Cavs drop a proven all star in Kevin Love for J.R. Smith?
