Chris Paul and Blake Griffin (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
The NBA season will have a juggernaut casting a shadow all throughout the league and the other contenders need to follow suit. In a trade scenario, they could actually help each other.
In a post on NBA Reddit by user 'Nickhowie' a trade scenario which he claimed could be "the greatest trade in NBA history" actually makes a lot of sense for the three teams involved.
One of the good points of the trade is that it involves three impending free agents all going to a team which they are likely to sign with while filling the needs of the teams involved (if not making them better).
The trade will involves the Cleveland Cavaliers, the LA Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Chris Paul and Enes Kanter will go to Cleveland, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love go to the LA Clippers and the OKC Thunder will receive Kyrie Irving and Blake Griffin.
For Cleveland, they may receive the oldest player (Paul) and the weakest player (Kanter) but they are better fits than the players they are replacing (Irving and Love). Paul fits in with what they want to do (win championships now) and he's likely to re-sign with LeBron James as his teammate. Kanter is the center that Kevin Love isn't. He has slightly improved defensively and still provides production in the paint.
For the LA Clippers, they get to reunite the UCLA teammates. They get the best player in the trade (Westbrook) and bringing him to LA with Love will give them a good chance of re-signing a new contract as a West contender. Love is also a better fit than Griffin because his outside shooting can space the floor better.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, they are likely to lose Westbrook so any return is a win for them. Blake Griffin is from Oklahoma and if they could re-sign a star, he's the most likely candidate. Kyrie Irving can take over point guard duties. He is not as dominant as Westbrook but he's a legitimate All-Star. Also, Griffin is a better fit alongside Steven Adams than Kanter was.
The Cavs are probably the least inclined to make this trade (they're the champions and they have the players signed to long-term deals) so they should probably get some first round picks from the other two teams-who both have compelling reasons to trade. The trade works on the ESPN trade machine (at this point, most proposals would). It's a difficult trade to execute and the probability that it would happen is low, but the motivations all make sense, though.
