With four seasons of evidence, it’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the Kevin Love-Andrew Wiggins trade.
Last month, I reviewed the now infamous Kevin Love-for-Andrew Wiggins swap. Last week, Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the news that 4-time All-Star Jimmy Butler requested to be traded by his current team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. This news reinforces the notion that the Cavs won the Love-Wiggins trade.
One reason suggested as to why Butler is requesting a trade is a reported rift between him and Wiggins. Butler has reportedly been upset with Wiggins’ lack of work ethic, and the feud culminated in Nick Wiggins, the brother of Andrew Wiggins, tweeting (in a now-deleted tweet) “Hallelujah” in regards to Butler’s trade request. Butler responded to this in a video on Instagram, which shows him running drills. The video ends with him saying “Hallelujah.”
In June 2017, Butler was shipped to Minnesota along with Justin Patton for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen, with the hopes that Butler, Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns would meld into a core that could help the Wolves compete. This past season, they had some success and did make the playoffs, but a meniscal injury to Butler hurt their season.
Minnesota gave up a large haul to bring in Butler. Zach LaVine is a promising, athletic guard that was coming off an ACL injury, but looked solid in 24 games last year for Chicago. Former lottery pick Kris Dunn made a lot of progress in his second year, improving his scoring output from 3 points per game to 13.4 points per game, and added 6 dimes a night. Lauri Markkanen, a Finland-born stretch forward, has already drawn comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki and had a fantastic rookie year.
The Wolves made this trade hoping Butler would be a long-term answer for their franchise. With the news surfacing about his trade request, that certainly doesn’t appear to be the case. Wiggins most likely isn’t the sole factor as to Butler’s request, but he is a large factor. Wiggins being a driving force behind Butler’s impending departure is more evidence the Cavs won the Love-Wiggins trade.
The Cavs received a long-term franchise great, who was a contributor to a championship team. At this point, Wiggins is a volume-scorer who played a big part in driving away a superstar guard.