Coach K says he'd trade Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love in a heartbeat. http://t.co/FDqtjBqhKT pic.twitter.com/d21H2kHZhl
— Sporting News College Basketball (@sn_ncaab) July 21, 2014
Legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski wouldn’t hesitate if he was able to trade Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love.
Krzyzewski is familiar with both Wiggins – who was a star at the University of Kansas – and Love, who he coached on Team USA.
Krzyzewski was clear when he was asked on CBS Sports radio if he would trade Wiggins, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ top pick in June’s NBA Draft, to the Timberwolves for Love.
“There’s absolutely not one second of hesitancy. I’d trade for Kevin Love. That’s not saying anything bad about any of the other youngsters. Love’s an All-Star and he’s a double-double guy. But he’s a double-double guy who can spread the court. There aren’t many double-double guys who can spread the floor; he can go inside and outside. There may be a low post player that gets you a double double, you can do a lot of different things with him.”
The Cavaliers continue to insist that Wiggins is not involved in any trade discussions with the Wolves for Love.
Sports Illustrated reports that Cleveland was close to signing their rookie, which under NBA rules means Wiggins could not be traded for at least 30 days.
Wiggins seems to be handling the rumors OK.
“I let my agent and my support system handle that, I just love playing the game of basketball and I know the NBA is a business,” Wiggins told Pro Basketball Talk. “No. I just play basketball man wherever I go.”
Wiggins averaged a team-high 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals per game in his four appearances in the NBA Summer League. He did not play in Friday’s Summer League game.
But Krzyzewski made the “you know what you’ve got” argument with Love.
“I’ve coached him on two teams and no pun intended, I love Kevin Love,” Krzyzewski said to CBS Sports. “You look at LeBron, and you have the best player in the world. He’s 29, I’m not saying he’s at the end of his career, but he’s in the second-half of his career. And in the first half of his career he was becoming a great player. It took time, just like with Andrew Wiggins, it takes time.”
Despite what Coach K says, though, Cleveland has not formally offered Wiggins to the Wolves.
