Report: Cavs don’t believe they have enough assets to acquire Kawhi
The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t believe they have enough assets to acquire Kawhi Leonard.
Speaking on SportsCenter on Wednesday, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said that the Cleveland Cavaliers have made calls to the San Antonio Spurs about acquiring disgruntled star Kawhi Leonard but don’t believe they have enough assets to make a deal.
McMenamin also says that the #Cavs put in a call to the #Spurs about Kawhi Leonard, but they don't believe they have the necessary assets to acquire the 2014 NBA Finals MVP.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) June 20, 2018
This comes on the heels of a report from McMenamin saying the Cavs aren’t actively shopping five-time All-Star Kevin Love, so whether this means that the Cavs never offered Love in a deal for Leonard or were rebuffed by an offer that included Love and the 8th overall pick in the upcoming draft is unclear.
However, it seems unlikely that the Cavs would have tried to lowball the Spurs in an offer for Leonard.
They received their current lottery pick, a two-time All-Star in Isaiah Thomas and a player who was considered one of the better three-and-D forwards in the league in Jae Crowder (along with a second round pick and a promising center in Ante Zizic) when they traded perennial All-Star Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics. Offering Love and the 8th pick along with a couple of sweeteners seems like solid value for a player who may not re-sign — with the Cavs or the Spurs — following the season.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, the Spurs may want more young talent on the roster, which — in addition to the presence of Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge — diminishes the value of Love.
He’ll be 30-years-old in December and other teams, like the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics have young All-Star caliber players to offer where the Cavs don’t. The best the Cavs could do is trade Love (or a package of draft picks and partially guaranteed contracts) to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for the 4th overall pick. In fact, the Cavs have reportedly talked to the Grizzlies multiple times but it’s not known what those talks were about.
It just seems like it would involve the 4th pick the Grizzlies have been trying to trade for weeks.
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If the Cavs can get their hands on that draft pick, they could very well have enough assets to acquire Leonard. If they don’t then it’s a lot harder to see them making a splash move this offseason.