The Atlanta Hawks could send Paul Millsap to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kevin Love in a deal that would make sense for both teams.
The Hawks approaches the 2016-2017 regular season with a revamped roster after losing Al Horford to free agency this summer. The team successfully added a defensive center in Dwight Howard, but is unlikely to fill the void left by Horford on the offensive end.
With the free agency market already dried up, the Hawks' only hope of adding an offensive trade will be via trade. According to Wes Goldberg of Today's Fastbreak, one potential deal the Hawks may consider exploring is sending Paul Millsap to the Cavs for Kevin Love, a trade that should address not only the Hawk's need of a scoring threat, but would also give Cleveland a versatile forward essential for their back-to-back title bid.
Love has never fitted in the Cavs' system since Day 1, but he would still be as effective as he was a couple of years ago playing for the right team. Love, who averaged 16.0 points a game while shooting 41.9 percent from the field, should give Howard the space he needs to operate well in the paint.
Love could also become the Hawks' top scoring option, and while Love isn't entirely known for his defense, pairing him with Howard should cover up the former's defensive inefficiency.
On the other hand, Millsap, who averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 rebounds last season, would provide the Cavs a versatile forward who can defend multiple positions. With the Cavs already loaded with prolific scorers in LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Millsap would fit well as a third option on the offensive end, but would not be pressured to contribute much.
Millsap has been linked to trade rumors in the past month, when the Hawks were attempting to clear some cap room for Horford. Giving him up for Love alone, which works on ESPN's trade machine, seems not a fair deal, considering both teams' needs to improve their roster.
It is unclear whether the Hawks still have the intention to move Millsap in the offseason, but trading him for Love seems a win-win situation for Atlanta and Cleveland.