NBA Trade Rumors: Kevin Love to OKC Thunder, Cavs May Finally Sign J.R. Smith

Oct 06, 2016 10:16 AM EDT

The OKC Thunders need to have scoring big man as a replacement for Kevin Durant. The Cleveland Cavaliers, on the other hand, want to sign again J.R. Smith, but team has limited cap space. As a solution, Love might be shipped to the Thunders to fulfill Durant's position. And by releasing Love, the Cavs may have enough cap space to invite Smith.

Love has been part of NBA trade rumors in the past few months. The 2016-17 Season is just around the corner, and latest reports claim the Cavs' power forward will be shipped to another team to free up some salary cap space.

A report from Sportsrageous says the Oklahoma City Thunders have made an offer to Cleveland to acquire Love. The publication also states that Thunders are willing to send their center Enes Kanter and a guard in exchange of the forward.

According to some sports analysts, a Kevin Love trade to OKC would help the Cavs to them free up some space and meet the demands of J.R. Smith. In this deal, Kevin will have a fresh start with the Thunders and might get a championship title with Russell Westbrook.

As we already know, Durant will be playing for the Golden State Warriors next season. With their scoring bigman gone, Westbrook and the Thunders need some reinforcement to survive the upcoming season. If they want to have stronger lineup, the team has to sign an offensive player that can shoot three-points and get rebounds.

The addition of Love to the Thunders would be great for the team. The 6′ 10″ power forward has the ability to knock down threes. In addition, he has efficient post moves and can grab rebounds.

Meanwhile, J.R. Smith is still in the middle of contract negotiations with the Cavaliers, as per report from USA Today. The championship team has not yet re-signed him after demanding a hefty salary. The defending champs are reportedly having problems on Smith's contract due to limited cap space.

Interestingly, LeBron James has been pushing the Cavs management to get Smith back, and sports websites say the absence of the scoring guard would hurt the team's offense significantly.

Smith was one of the key players to the to the Cavs championship last season. He made some crucial three-point shots to lift the team against the Warriors. 

Stay tuned with Gospel Herald for more update.