NBA Trade Rumors: Trail Blazers Could Swap Hassan Whiteside For Kevin Love, ‘Forbes’ Suggests
The Portland Trail Blazers reached another milestone in the 2018-19 NBA season when they made it to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. However, their recent loss against the Golden State Warriors showed that the explosive backcourt duo of C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard wasn’t enough for the Trail Blazers to fully dominate the Western Conference and contend for the NBA championship title. If they want to have a better chance of achieving their main goal next season, the Trail Blazers should make it a priority to add another superstar this summer.
One of the NBA superstars that the Trail Blazers could target in the 2019 NBA offseason is Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to Evan Dammarell of Forbes, the potential “Big Three” of Love, C.J. McCollum, and Damian Lillard would make the Trail Blazers one of the top favorites to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the 2019-20 NBA season.
“On paper, Love pairs alongside Portland’s star tandem of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum much like he would with Westbrook in Oklahoma City. Plus, playing alongside two willing playmakers would only allow Love’s game to flourish further in Portland. While the trio of would be pretty bad defensively, the return of Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic along with the recent addition of Kent Bazemore should help cover for them. By adding Love, Portland would easily enter next season as a favorite to win the NBA title.”
Kevin Love Says LeBron Can Take Lakers to NBA Finals If … https://t.co/UCyQCdNiW4
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 8, 2019
Kevin Love would be an incredible addition to the Trail Blazers, giving them an All-Star caliber big man who has the ability to space the floor. With the three years he spent playing with Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in Cleveland, Love definitely won’t mind serving as the third scoring option behind Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Love would be the perfect frontcourt partner to Jusuf Nurkic since he can play both the center and power forward positions and can knock down shots from beyond the arc.
To acquire Kevin Love, Dammarell suggested that the Trail Blazers could offer Hassan Whiteside to the Cavaliers. The potential Cavaliers-Trail Blazers trade involving Love and Whiteside works on ESPN‘s NBA Trade Machine. However, despite their desire to unload Love’s massive contract, it is highly unlikely that the Cavaliers will agree to trade him for Whiteside alone. To sweeten the deal, Dammarell thinks that the Trail Blazers should add young players like Nassir Little or Gary Trent Jr. and a future first-round pick.
