Cleveland Cavaliers: Could Kevin Love be the next Blake Griffin?

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INDEPENDENCE, OH – JULY 26: Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert introduces new general manager Koby Altman during a press conference at The Cleveland Clinic Courts on July 26, 2016 in Independence, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Koby Altman is learning

Koby Altman almost pulled a coup at the trade deadline. Without resurrecting the past and looking at the trades with hindsight, when, very few people said that the trades that blew up the roster were anything but miraculous. Sure, Jae Crowder played better defense in Utah, the trade with the Lakers enabled them to land LeBron, and Rodney Hood was a shell of himself after the trade, but it was a win at the time.

Looking at the NBA landscape now, Kevin Love at four years and $120M is a better trade than Love on a player option.

Every team wishes to be the Oklahoma City Thunder, where they can convince a player to resign after taking a huge risk on an expiring contract but it’s more likely than not that does not happen. Especially not for Cleveland.

The Los Angeles Clippers, and to an extent, the Toronto Raptors, have laid a blueprint for how to extend a player in his prime (or near it) and then use that extension as a tool to flip the player for a lot more than they would have received otherwise.

Could Love be a pawn in Koby Altman’s chess game?