LeBron James would be 'very excited' to have Kevin Love in Cleveland
In his first public comments since joining the Cavaliers last month, LeBron James said on Friday that he is "very excited" about the possibility of playing with Kevin Love, according to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein.
"If he comes aboard, I will be very excited to have him," James said. "I don't even really care about the 26 [points] and 12 [rebounds], I care about his basketball IQ. His basketball IQ is very, very high. I had the opportunity to spend 32 days with him in the 2012 Olympics. He was huge for us ... he's a great piece."
On Thursday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that the Cavs and Timberwolves agreed in principle to swap Love for Andrew Wiggins, the top pick in this year's draft, Anthony Bennett, the top pick in last year's draft, and the Cavs' 2015 protected first-round pick. But since Wiggins can't be traded until Aug. 23 under NBA rules, James couldn't speak as if the deal is done.
"We can't get too far into it because of league rules, we don't know for sure," James said. "I'm not getting my hopes too high on it right now because you don't know what could happen between now and the 23rd."
The 25-year-old Love is a three-time All-Star who averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game last season, but has never played in the postseason.
- Chris Mascaro
