The three-team Kevin Love trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Philadelphia 76ers is set be finalized on Saturday, according to multiple reports. One report indicated the NBA league office has already been notified to expect a phone call Saturday morning.
All reports thus far indicate the Kevin Love trade will be completed without a hitch on Saturday, the first day Cavaliers rookie Andrew Wiggins is eligible to be traded.
"The 30-day waiting period on the Kevin Love trade ends Saturday, when the Wolves are expected to finalize and announce the franchise's biggest player transaction since it sent away superstar Kevin Garnett seven years ago," Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote Friday. "The trade specifics, however, were confirmed as final Thursday night by the Star Tribune."
The trade package is expected to look like this: Love to Cleveland; Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Thaddeus Young and a trade exception worth around $4-5 million to Minnesota; and Alexey Shved, Luc Mbah a Moute and Cleveland's first-round pick from the Miami Heat to Philadelphia.
USA Today Sports, the Associated Press and the Star Tribune all confirmed an identical package.
The league office also has been notified to expect a phone call Saturday, according to Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500.
"The league is aware that they should be ready for a trade call on Saturday," Wolfson tweeted Thursday.
Philadelphia accrues another first-round pick and inches closer to the salary cap minimum by taking back two expiring contracts.
Minnesota adds Wiggins and Bennett, the first overall picks of the 2014 and 2013 drafts, and gets the chance to win now with veteran Young while Bennett continues to develop coming off the bench.
Cleveland, meanwhile, leaps from the cellar of the Eastern Conference to - at least on paper - the top and instantly becomes the favorite to win the East with an All-Star trio of Love, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
