We passed along the report a couple of days ago that the Cavaliers were expected to sign Andrew Wiggins to his rookie contract sometime this week, and discussed at the time how that may or may not impact any trade talks Cleveland has going with the Timberwolves on a potential deal for Kevin Love.
The only thing that’s changed since then is that we may have a firm date for Wiggins to be signed, and it could be as early as Wednesday.
From Tom Withers of The Associated Press:A person familiar with the negotiations says the Cavs will sign the No. 1 overall pick to his deal, an agreement that would prevent any potential trade involving the small forward from being completed for 30 days.
Wiggins has been linked to a possible trade with Minnesota for All-Star forward Kevin Love. The person familiar with the talks says Wiggins will sign with Cleveland as early as Wednesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the team is not commenting on its plans.
Signing Wiggins wouldn’t necessarily take him out of trade talks for Love; it would merely delay the earliest date when the transaction could be completed. But a trade for Love involving Wiggins could still be agreed to before then, just as free agent signings are during the moratorium period in the early days of July.
Reports have conflicted on whether or not Wiggins has been made available in a deal for Love -- we’ve heard that both he and Anthony Bennett could be dealt, and we’ve heard Cavaliers head coach David Blatt say that Wiggins is “not going anywhere,” as well.
Obviously, it remains to be seen whether Wiggins might be traded, or even if the Cavaliers are able to put together a strong enough package to entice Minnesota to part ways with Love at all -- especially now that the Bulls have re-entered the picture. But either way, it looks like Wiggins will be under contract with Cleveland beginning this week.
