Cavaliers Rumors: Reviewing Latest Trade Chatter Before 2020 Deadline Day

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a franchise in flux to put it nicely. 

The John Beilein era is off to a disastrous start. The Cavs are competing with the Atlanta Hawks for the worst record in the East without the excitement of a Trae Young to give hope for the future. 

The pairing of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland doesn't look right from what they've shown thus far. And the aging remnants from the 2016 title run are no longer a match for the organization going forward. It's with that backdrop that the team enters Thursday's deadline. 

Names like Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson have made the rounds throughout the season. As we get closer to the actual deadline here's the latest buzz surrounding Cleveland and its assets. 

Locker Room Anticipating Big Changes

The Cavs look like a mess from the outside, but it doesn't sound like it's much better on the inside. 

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported that the feeling in the locker room is that Love and Thompson are being shopped. 

"More than a few guys in that locker room sense the organization wanting to make a big shakeup, that the front office is 'trying to trade Kevin and Tristan.' While it's their job to block out any noise and focus solely on basketball, they are also human."

It's easy to get caught up in the moves the Cavs could make and how they impact the big picture. They are clearly in a rebuilding stage, but what that does to a team on a day-to-day basis can get lost.

The Cavs are in an awkward position where much of the roster like Thompson, Love, Jon Henson, Brandon Knight and Matthew Dellavedova aren't part of the long-term future. Yet, they need them to provide leadership and stability. 

Those are two things that are hard to provide when it's unclear if they will be on the team by the end of the week. 

Which is why the Cavs might be better after the trade deadline either way at this point. 

Cavs 'Resigned' a Deal for Love Won't Get Done; Suns Remain a Wild Card

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Kevin Love remains one of the most valuable assets the Cavs have on the trade market. The 31-year-old forward is averaging 17.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in 31.1 minutes a night. 

He's also shooting 37.9 percent from deep and has valuable playoff experience on a championship team. 

However, finding a trade partner to take on his four-year $120 million deal has been difficult. 

Speaking on The Woj Pod, veteran NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski said the Cavaliers have become "resigned" to the idea that a Love deal is unlikely to happen by the deadline. 

There's still some hope they can move the forward, though. ESPN's Zach Lowe reported that while there's "little market" for him, something could develop over the next few days with Phoenix being a team to keep an eye on. 

"The wild card was always Phoenix," Lowe wrote. "The Suns are hard to predict. Rivals struggle to get a feel for the Suns' objectives."

The Suns are four games behind the Grizzlies for eighth place in the Western Conference. They could use Tyler Johnson's $19.2 million cap number and some of their young assets to upgrade at the power forward position for a run to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. 

Tristan Thompson on the Block

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The feeling among the players that the Cavs are looking to move Love and Thompson are warranted. Chris B. Haynes of Yahoo reported that Cleveland is open to dealing Thompson in trade talks.

Haynes also noted that the Cavs are in "asset accumulation mode" after losing to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday. 

Thompson should be an appealing piece for teams looking to contend this year. He's in the last year of the five-year contract he signed with the Cavs in 2015. His $18.5 million deal will come off the books at the end of the season and at 28 years old, teams may be interested in bringing him back for more.

He's also putting up some of the best numbers of his career. His 11.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game would be career highs if the season ended today. 

Those numbers aren't doing Cleveland much good, though. Thompson is much more valuable as someone who can bolster the front court and offer playoff experience to a contender than a strong rebounder on a floundering team without much direction. 

Moving Thompson for future assets makes a lot of sense, it just comes down to finding a team willing to pay the right price.