The Cleveland Cavaliers are willing to trade All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins and other assets, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. Wolfson said that the two teams remain far apart in negotiations. The Timberwolves were mentioned as one of the four preferred teams by Irving as landing spots when he asked Cavaliers team owner Dan Gilbert for a trade.
As earlier reported, the Cavaliers want a win-now veteran, a blue-chip young player, and top picks for Irving. Wolfson said Wiggins will be an ideal swap for Irving as he can immediately help the Cavaliers with his scoring and can become the team’s cornerstone in case LeBron James leaves Cleveland in 2018.
The Wolves can throw in Jeff Teague in the deal but they cannot trade him until December 15 as he recently signed a three-year, $57 million deal with the team in the offseason. Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns both urged the Wolves' front office to trade for Irving.
Wiggins due for a contract extension
Wolves team owner Glen Taylor said he intends to keep Wiggins as part of the team’s future and use one of their two maximum “designated” extensions under the new collective bargaining agreement to sign him to a five-year maximum deal worth $150 million. Wiggins averaged 23.6 points and 4.0 boards in 82 regular-season games for the Wolves, who have until October 16 to get a deal done. The Cavaliers took Wiggins as the No.
1 overall pick in 2014 but they traded him to the Wolves for power forward Kevin Love.
Spurs and Knicks also interested in Irving
Aside from the Wolves, Irving also mentioned the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and the San Antonio Spurs as preferred destinations. The Knicks want to trade Carmelo Anthony for Kyrie Irving but the former has a no-trade clause in his contract that he intends to waive if he’s shipped to the Houston Rockets.
Earlier, Anthony expressed his willingness to waive his no-trade clause for the Rockets and the Cavaliers but he recently dropped Cleveland as a next stop.
The Spurs, for their part, can offer disgruntled power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Green, and young playmaker Dejounte Murray to the Cavaliers for Irving, who can step up as starting playmaker in place of injured veteran point guard Tony Parker.
Earlier, it was reported that the Heat were willing to ship Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow to the Cavaliers but the team denied it, saying they were not interested in trading for Irving.
The Cavs were eyeing Eric Bledsoe and No. 4 pick Josh Jackson for Irving but the Phoenix Suns refused to part ways with the rookie, whom they intend to build around in the future.
