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NBA Trade Rumors: Paul Millsap To Cavs, Blake Griffin To Celtics, Chris Paul To Hawks, Kevin Love To Clippers In Blockbuster Eight-Player Deal

Published on: October 16, 2016 at 6:14 PM
By Adrian Lawhorn

The latest NBA trade rumors circulating in cyberspace mostly involve players who have been mentioned in them often over the past few weeks. Cavs power forward Kevin Love, Hawks power forward Paul Millsap and the Clippers’ dynamic duo of power forward Blake Griffin and point guard Chris Paul have all been discussed regularly in the rumor mill this off-season. Now, a fresh rumor has surfaced that includes every one of these star players, and a few more as well.

A recent report by Yibada discussed the possibility of Cleveland and Los Angeles being involved in trade talks for Blake Griffin and Kevin Love . The Parent Herald has opined that Paul Millsap could be headed to the Cavaliers in an upcoming trade. The Boston Celtics have also shown interest in a deal for Blake Griffin , according to SB Nation . These reports have been circulating in recent weeks, and as a result, there is a new NBA trade rumor being discussed online that has relevance to all of the aforementioned players and teams.

In the rumored trade scenario, four teams, eight players and two draft picks are involved. The structure of this blockbuster trade rumor is as follows:

  1. The Cleveland Cavaliers would receive power forward Paul Millsap.
  2. The Boston Celtics would welcome power forward Blake Griffin, as well as former Celtics great Paul Pierce.
  3. The Atlanta Hawks would come away from this swap with point guard Chris Paul.
  4. Lastly, the Los Angeles Clippers, who would be giving up two NBA All-Stars in this trade, would be compensated with a package that includes power forward Kevin Love, point guard Dennis Schroder, rookie small forward Jaylen Brown, power forward Amir Johnson and first-round draft picks in 2017 and 2019.

This is certainly a huge trade proposal, so let’s take a look at the particulars and attempt to make some sense out of this massive deal that is being debated online. The first test is to examine this deal through the eyes of the NBA league office. For three of these teams, this transaction works under NBA trade and salary cap rules. However, there is too much salary being sent to the Celtics in this rumored scenario, so this trade would not be approved by the NBA if it was submitted to the league by these four franchises.

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There is always a chance that this deal could be restructured, but it would have to be altered significantly to make it a legal trade. Boston would have an excess of nearly $7 million in salary to shave off, and with Blake Griffin ($20.1 million annually) and Paul Pierce’s $3.5 million contract coming in, it would not be possible to make that adjustment without excluding Blake Griffin from the offer — and that would be an absolute deal-breaker for the Celtics.

As NBA trade rumors go, this one is quite intriguing — four legitimate stars would be changing uniforms if this deal actually happened. However, the reality is that the Boston Celtics’ part in this trade simply isn’t feasible due to league restrictions placed on incoming and outgoing trade salaries.

This particular trade rumor may be “busted,” but that doesn’t mean one or even several of these players couldn’t be dealt by their current teams in the near future.

Blake Griffin’s name has come up in NBA trade rumors due to his contract status, as the Clippers are concerned that he may choose to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Teammate and fellow NBA All-Star Chris Paul (also known as CP3) has the same early termination option in his deal with Los Angeles, so he may bolt after the season as well.

Kevin Love has been the darling of the rumor mill all summer, since his fit in the Cavs’ lineup has been very questionable, and his subpar performance in the 2016 NBA Finals seemed to cause the Cavaliers to further sour on their six-foot-ten power forward. Even Paul Millsap has been the subject of several NBA trade rumors in recent months, so any of the stars mentioned above could be traded if the right deal comes along.

Current NBA trade rumors are hitting the internet and hinting at an enormous trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, and Los Angeles Clippers. The eight-player, two draft choice swap appears viable until we put the Celtics’ role in the trade under the microscope. This precise trade scenario will not take place, but stay tuned, because at least one of these star performers could be headed to a new team in the coming weeks.

[Featured Image by Tony Dejak/AP Images]

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