Scenario 3: Andre Drummond for Kevin Love

Draymond Green: Meet Andre Drummond.

While trading Love for most players in the league would hurt the Cavs in the rebounding department, Drummond is one of a handful of players who would actually be an upgrade in that area.

Consider the prospect of having Drummond at center and Tristan Thompson at power forward. No one on Golden State’s roster currently would give them any reason to win the rebounding battle against those two. The Cavs would dominate the defensive glass and likely grab a boatload of offensive boards, as well.

Drummond is more athletic and quicker than Love, so he shouldn’t have as much trouble matching up with the Warriors defensively. The Cavs sorely missed a rim protector in the 2017 Finals.

He’s a much better finisher at the rim than Thompson and it’s not hard to picture LeBron and Irving lobbing up some beautiful ally-oops to set the athletic Drummond up for the slam on the run in transition.

The Detroit Pistons have reportedly been shopping Drummond in trade talks and there aren’t many better players they could realistically get in return than Love. Stan Van Gundy loves to find those stretch fours, like Love, and that’s something the Pistons are missing right now.

Drummond is signed through 2019-20 with a player option heading into 2020-2021. The way the landscape is looking, he’s unlikely to re-sign with Detroit, but pair him with Irving and (hopefully) LeBron for the long-term, and it would be a pretty enticing situation to want to stay around.

With Love, the Cavs don’t exactly have a clear cut mismatch or advantage in the frontcourt. With Drummond, it would be a move that Golden State could not match at this time, without adding a significant piece to counter, and the Warriors don’t have any room to add on, given their roster composition and salary cap as it is.

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