There are rare moments in sports where a trade can truly make a difference for all of the parties involved. Its even rarer when those trades are blockbusters that could shake up the entire league. There is a certain art to making a deal, a kind finesse that only comes out when you try to make the biggest deal possible. You know your team needs that reset button, that star to build around, or that last piece to finally get over the hump, and you go out and make it happen. Fans will riot, cheer, cry, applaud, and various other things that fans do, yet you stick to your guns and make it happen. This is the art of the deal.
Now you can be saying “well gee, the deadline has passed, why is there yet another article about a trade?”. Well there are two reasons for that. 1) this trade can still be made possible in the offseason, however little to no chance there is that it happens. 2) this is a win-win-win (as Michael Scott would say) for all parties involved. So I'll stop with all the drama and build up and lay out my master plan.
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Carmelo Anthony
New York Knicks receive: D'angelo Russell, Julius Randle
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Kevin Love
Now before all of you start yelling and saying “this will never happen” while snorting and rolling your eyes, let me lay out why each team would do this.
Lakers:
The Lakers are losing Kobe Bryant this offseason, the face of their entire franchise for almost two decades. While there is never a simple way of dealing with that kind of loss there are ways of making sure Hollywood has a star. The Kevin Love experiment has completely failed in Cleveland, but that doesn't mean Love is a bad player. The year before coming over to Cleveland he averaged a career high 26.1ppg, 12.5rpg, and another career high in 4.4apg. The man is still only 27 and can ball, but has to have players around him that can play his style of ball. It just so happens that one player will be a free agent in the coming years that would fit perfectly with him in Los Angeles, a player that played with love in L.A in college and who has championships of his own on his mind, Russel Westbrook. These 2 players together in California, who know each other's game so well, would be a dynamic duo that can easily keep the Lakers in championship contention for years to come.
Knicks:
The Knicks are in a strange place right now. They have a team built around an aging star, with another one just on the rise. They are in the playoff race, yet they are still rebuilding. To watch this team say how they should be making a legitimate run for the playoffs while playing under not one, but now 2 sub-par head coaches, having rookies making rookie mistakes, and their superstar wasting away his prime is just mind boggling. This is all on top of the rumors that their president Phil Jackson may be looking for a way out of New York to go back to L.A. The best bet here is to start totally fresh and build around their prodigy in Porzingis. Now how does one do that without any picks this coming year? Just get the number two pick from last year. Having Russell and Porzingis together is enticing enough, but throw Randle in the there? That's the making of a young core that could potentially dominate the east for years to come. The latent potential from all three is to good to pass up, this allows the Knicks to grow at a slower pace, with a new coach in the offseason, in a weaker conference, while having a ton of cap to spend on people who compliment their trio of budding stars.
Cavaliers:
The Cavs never thought they'd have a problem after creating one of the most intriguing super teams to date. Kyrie Irving is the young blood, Kevin love was the missing piece, and LeBron was the prodigal son come home. The story could have just written itself at that point, then Steph Curry decided to show up. The new way of basketball that the Warriors are playing has started to create a panic across the league. Teams are starting to question if their methods are outdated and archaic in light of the new style of small ball that the Warriors are playing. Yet something has got LeBron paying more attention, people calling Steph Curry the best player on the planet. People like James don't take threats to their throne well, they tend to massacre their opponents to leave a message to everyone else that this is his league until he decides to give it up. Getting rid of Love would be a great step in that direction, playing the small ball game the Warriors decided to make, and beating them at it alongside one his closest friends, Carmelo Anthony. They would only have a small window, and they would have to play on a level we have not seen in a while, yet is there any doubt that these two close friends and megastars could make it work? The East would be theirs for years, they would vanquish their foe in Curry, and keep that torch until they decide to pass it on.
Not everyone is going to agree with this, nor should they, we're all entitled to our opinions. Yet you can't deny the underlining points made for each team, and the potential for each team to thrive for years to come. Financially with Kobe on their roster this would be tough to pull off, yet once he retires at year's end, all the money works out. Regardless of if this happens or not, its always fun to dream.
