Is There Any Substance Behind Kevin Love to Utah Jazz Rumblings?

A few rumblings of Kevin Love being traded to the Utah Jazz have surfaced on social media, but is there any reliable proof to back up that speculation?

With the NBA trade deadline looming, the internet is circling with rumors and sometimes it can be hard to separate fact from fiction, speculation from rumor and legitimacy from craziness. The Utah Jazz have already been mentioned in a handful of rumors, but of course nothing has come to fruition as of yet.

One team that specifically has received frequent mention in the rumor mill is the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Given that they already made a move to obtain Kyle Korver and worked out a handful of free agents, it stands to reason that they would be largely considered as a team that will continue to be active leading up to the trade deadline.

One of the more recent rumors surrounding them has been their reported desire to make a move to obtain Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks. While originally many supposed that this could happen if they were to swap Kevin Love for him, the Cavs quickly squashed those rumors by saying that while they were interested in acquiring Anthony, they wouldn’t be willing to deal Love for him.

With that being said, many supposed that it meant Kevin Love was now officially off the trade block and wouldn’t be moved.

Especially given how well he’s played this season, that still may very well end up being the case as he has turned into an important piece of Cleveland’s team. However, reports surfacing today have announced that while it’s still highly unlikely that Kevin Love is dealt, the Cavs would indeed be willing to move him for the right pieces to make the team better.

So what does this have to do with the Jazz? Well, largely originating with a recent tweet from Bill Simmons in which he formulated a deal on the ESPN Trade Machine earlier in the week that had the Jazz involved in a three-team deal to acquire Kevin Love, speculation has run rampant that perhaps something like this could be worked out.

In that scenario, the Cavs would get Carmelo Anthony and Utah’s Shelvin Mack, another player they were supposedly eyeing, thus filling their need for a playmaker (I’ll let you decide which one of those two is the highly coveted playmaker).

While this isn’t the only trade option that would result in Love heading to Utah and probably isn’t even that realistic of one, it definitely got some Jazz fans speculating about the idea on social media.

Nevertheless, not only do I have a hard time trusting Bill Simmons anyway due to his referring to the Jazz as the “Utah Hipster Internet Heroes”, but I really don’t see any substance in his trade offer beyond putting together a hypothetical that would help the Cavs net Carmelo.

Beyond that, given the fact that the Cavs have made it quite clear that they wouldn’t trade Kevin Love even for Carmelo Anthony, I have a hard time believing that Shelvin Mack and a draft pick would be enough to entice them to change their minds.

Perhaps adding in more of a true playmaker like Alec Burks could be attractive to them, but at that point I don’t think it makes sense for the Jazz. Interestingly enough, there were rumors this summer of a possible Trey Lyles and Alec Burks package for Kevin Love, but nothing has come of that recently.

So while adding Kevin Love could potentially provide a nice boost for the Jazz, I don’t really see it working out for either team. And given that there’s little fact behind some of the rumblings that such a deal could be in the works, I’m going to go ahead and say this rumor is very unsubstantiated.

Nevertheless, crazier things have happened around the trade deadline and with the Jazz in need of improving their frontcourt, you just never know what might happen.

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For now, though, it seems more than likely that Kevin Love will be staying put and that any rumor that he may end up in Utah is nothing more than pure speculation.