Should the Pelicans inquire about trading for Kevin Love? Probably not

After over five seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Love is reportedly on the trade market. Would it make sense for the New Orleans Pelicans to make an offer?

After playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first six seasons of his career, where he became one of the best forwards in the NBA, Kevin Love was traded to the Cavaliers where his numbers fell. However, he remained an All-Star caliber player and won a title there in 2016. Now, reports are surfacing that Cleveland is placing Love on the trade market. Would it make sense for the New Orleans Pelicans to make an offer for him?

Kevin Love is the type of player that can help practically any team in the NBA. He can space the floor, with the ability to knock down 3’s and score inside with equal ease. And while he is not the league-leading rebounder he once was, he is still a more than capable board grabber whose numbers have largely fallen due to a changed role more than to a diminishing of ability.

However, Love’s contract is the type of deal that can hamper any team hoping to have long term flexibility. Last summer, in the immediate aftermath of LeBron James leaving Northeast Ohio for Southern California, Love signed a 4 year, 120 million dollar extension which will run through the end of the 2022-23 season.

However, for the Pelicans, even though Love may help them in the short term, immediately improving their record and shoring up their lack of frontcourt depth, acquiring him would likely be a short term fix for a team more interested in long term goals.

Love would help the team win some of the close games that they have been losing, but such a small and immediate gain is simply not worth what it would take to acquire him. Put simply, the Pelicans, as currently constructed, are more focused on being a Western Conference contender in 2024 than they are in 2020.

That is not to say that the Pelicans are trying to tank now, or just punting on this season or the one after, but that developing their current roster, full of young players, takes precedence over making a quick deal that could potentially enable them to make a playoff push this season.

Also, Love’s contract would hamper the Pelicans’ flexibility as they try to re-sign Brandon Ingram this offseason and Jrue Holiday in 2021 or 2022 depending on if he declines his player option in the former year. It would also preclude the team from being able to make other, smaller splashes in free agency in the coming years.

Finally, while Love remains a good offensive player, he has never been the best defender. And the last thing the Pelicans need right now is another player who often struggles to stay in front of his man or protect the rim. The Pelicans are losing now, not due to a paucity of scoring ability, but because of a nonexistent defense. Love would not help ameliorate that problem.

It’s unclear what the Cavaliers would demand in a trade for Love, but it seems likely that they would want at least one of the Pelicans young players — most likely Ingram, who the Pelicans are almost certainly unwilling to deal — a few draft picks, and J.J. Redick or Jrue Holiday to make the contacts work. Obviously, this is far too much to give up for a player whose prime is at its end, whose skillset is not what New Orleans needs most, and whose timeline does not match that of the Pelicans.

While inquiring about Love’s availability may make sense for a more veteran team who imagines themselves to be one piece away from championship contention, for the Pelicans — a young team who are trying to build for the future — it would not make much sense at all. And I’m assuming that if most fans know that, then hopefully, the front office does too.