LeBron James’ patience runs puddle deep.
It was roughly one week ago that LeBron’s first-person account of why he was returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers was posted by Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. In this essay of his, he touched upon a number of things and the prevailing sentiment was he would remain patient. He knew it would take time for the Cavs to develop into an NBA juggernaut and he was prepared to endure. The growing pains that Tristan Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins experienced would be his burden too.
King James, to be sure, didn’t mention Wiggins by name, which spawned instant speculation. The Cavaliers have continuously been linked to Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and his omission from LeBron’s textual soliloquy had to mean something.
And perhaps it did.
According to Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal, Wiggins is now in play during trade negotiations:
By Bob Finnan, The Morning Journal & The News-Herald
POSTED: 07/17/14, 3:07 PM EDT | UPDATED: 33 SECS AGO 14 COMMENTS
Ever since LeBron James returned to Cleveland, talks have intensified for All-Star power forward Kevin Love.Rumors have surfaced that the Cavaliers wouldn’t include rookie swingman Andrew Wiggins in any possible deal for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ star.
A league source said on July 17 that the Cavs are now willing to trade the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft.
…
Up until this point, it was assumed the Cavs wanted to hang onto Wiggins, largely because of comments made by Coach David Blatt.
However, a source said James wants the 6-10, 250-pound Love on the roster.
And, what James wants, he normally gets.
Wait, we’re not done.
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski basically confirmed the report:
LeBron James has reached to tell Kevin Love of his desire for them to play together with the Cavaliers, front office sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 17, 2014
That certainly didn’t take long. When LeBron said he was prepared to remain patient, most of us assumed he meant for more than six days.
Turns out we were wrong.
The appeal, of course, is obvious. Pairing Love with Irving and LeBron gives the Cavaliers a superteam. They become immediate favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference and LeBron will have left Miami for Cleveland without compromising his ability to legitimately contend for an NBA title.
But Love’s free agency complicates things here. There’s no guarantee he stays in Cleveland. If the Cavs get bounced in the first round or he grows wary of playing third fiddle to LeBron and Irving, he could still leave. He could sign with a team that’s located in a better market, ready to contend and structured so that he’s the first or second option.
Is it difficult to imagine Love spurning a LeBron-piloted Cavs team? Absolutely.
Especially because LeBron tends to get what LeBron wants.
Only this is vastly different.
Trading Wiggins for Love puts the Cavs all in on a flight risk.
LeBron or no LeBron, there is but little comfort to be found in such a risky venture.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
