NBA Trade Rumors: 5 Teams That Should Trade For Kevin Love

4. New Orleans Pelicans

Other than Anthony Davis, no one on the New Orleans Pelicans should be off limits in trade scenarios as the front office tries to build a bonafide title contender around one of the league’s next alpha dogs. At 23 years old, the Brow is still very young, and with the Pellies sporting a 15-27 record, they’re four games out of the West’s final playoff spot.

But rather than chase another first-round sweep at the hands of the Warriors or Spurs, the Pelicans should submit to their injury-plagued season and tank their way to a top-five pick, giving Davis a long-term running mate for the future. With everyone in NOLA on the trading block (or at least, everyone needing to be on the trading block), the Cavaliers would have a few options.

The above scenario would supply Cleveland with yet another backcourt playmaker in Tyreke Evans, a well-rounded player who’s averaging 15.8 points, 6.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game. He’s also shooting 39.2 percent from three-point range, which would make him a tremendous asset in a potential deal, moving Iman Shumpert/J.R. Smith permanently to the bench where they belong.

Omer Asik‘s stock has plummeted thanks to his poor fit beside Anthony Davis, not to mention his unbelievably bloated five-year, $60 million contract extension last summer. But he was a very good rebounder and rim protector for the Rockets not long ago, and even if the Cavs had no interest in him compared to just keeping Mozgov around, this could be another alternative:

In fact, Ryan Anderson would probably be a preferable option, since he’d replace Love in that stretch-4 role the Cavs need for their offense to be so dynamic. Anderson may be an even worse defender than Love, but he’s also averaging 16.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season, while shooting a superior 38.3 percent from three-point range.

In either deal, the Pelicans would have their starting frontcourt locked in for the long-term future between Davis and Love, but Love’s arrival wouldn’t hurt New Orleans’ chance at a top-10 pick this year either. NOLA needs to try and get Asik’s contract off the books at some point, but with Anderson becoming a free agent this summer, perhaps moving him and Evans would be preferable to re-signing RyNo to a large extension/letting him walk for nothing.

The only question is, would Love be enough to nab Cleveland Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson so that both sides felt properly compensated?

Next: No. 3