Made up trade: Sixers acquire Kevin Love

Kevin Love
Photo credit Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine a lineup of Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, and Joel Embiid. Sheesh! 

As of January 24th, Love is available via trade. Well, is it actually feasible for Elton Brand and the Sixers? Let's take a look. 
With the NBA trade deadline (February 7th) vastly approaching, here's another made-up Sixers trade
PHI gets: Kevin Love
CLE gets: Markelle Fultz, Wilson Chandler, Furkan Korkmaz, and Philadelphia's 2019 first-round pick

This is basically a starting point because there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to Love and his trade value. He may have the most subjective trade value in the entire NBA. Personally, I think Kevin Love is a really good NBA player and has a ton of value. 

First, Love is 30-years-old. Only 30-years-old, I should say. He's almost exactly one year older than Jimmy Butler and it feels like Love has been written off partly due to his age, partly due to the insignificance of the team he is on, and partly due to his recent availability, or lack thereof. 
Love had surgery on his left foot on November 2nd, and hasn't played since. The five-time all-star hasn't played more than 60 games since 2016-17, so he's certainly risky. And to compound the complexity of trading for Love, he comes with a four-year, $120 million contract through 2022-23

But to me, if you bake in his injury concerns and his expensive contract, now he could become a steal for a hopeful title contender like the Sixers, who may be able to acquire a discounted all-star level talent.

Cleveland, a franchise basically openly tanking, has to be eager to shed Love's contract. Former Cavs GM David Griffin agrees. 

While it's unlikely because he's hurt, Griff thinks the Cavs could still field offers for Love at the trade deadline. With his current contract, Griff said they "bought optionality."

— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) January 18, 2019

Again, I'm not sure Fultz, Chandler, Korkmaz, and a late 2019 first-round pick is enough to get it done as Love's value is so confusing. Philadelphia doesn't have a ton of assets, but they do also have Landry Shamet, Zhaire Smith and the 2021 first-round pick from Miami in their bag, if needed. But again, I'm not completely sure how much Brand would (and should) be willing to give up here. 

Korkmaz, sadly, is probably the Sixers' top asset between him, Fultz, and Chandler. Philadelphia (incorrectly) declined Korkmaz's $2,033,160 third-year option making him an unrestricted free-agent after the season. While trading Kork became a bit more tricky after his option was declined (he cannot be offered a contract for above his option price unless signed as an UFA), he's still a valuable asset with upside as a 6-7, 21-year-old, and former first-round pick with a versatile offensive game and an ability to knock down shots. 

As for Love's meshing with the Sixers, he would fit beautifully into the Dario Saric role, replacing Chandler. Love is a career 37.0% three point shooter, averaging 18.3 points and 11.3 rebounds. By all accounts, Love is a good teammate with an all-star pedigree and championship experience.

Long-term it would certainly be tricky, but the Sixers could theoretically fit their new big four—Embiid, Simmons, Butler, and Love—under the cap, even with an extension for Butler and Simmons this summer. Redick would be the odd man out, but that's a championship-level core four that you'd have under contract for the next few seasons. 

Who's in on Love? He's expensive, but I think I'm in.