Cleveland Cavs deny 'trash' report that team is shopping Kevin Love

WASHINGTON — Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue said Kevin Love won’t be traded. LeBron James called a New York Daily News report "trash" that said he’s pushing management to trade for New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony. Kevin Love called the report a lie.

"What do they say? 'A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put his pants on,' " Love said.

The Daily News report published Monday said James wants Anthony even if it means trading Love. James denied that after the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards 140-135 in overtime on Monday.

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"It’s trash," James said. "And the guy who wrote it is trash, too, for writing that. ... It’s always about outside noise, and that’s just outside noise for us. We’ve got to focus on what needs to be done in order for us to continue to compete for a championship. We’ve got who we got. Our GM (David Griffin) will do a great job of figuring out if we need something else. But right now, we’re in a good place."

Asked about the story and the idea of trading Love, Lue gave a facetious answer. "We’re going to trade him tonight — 39 (points) and 12 (rebounds), yeah, we’re going to trade him."

Love made 11-for-17 from the field, including 6-for-10 on three-pointers. After missing two-plus games with back spasms, Love returned Saturday against the Knicks and had 23 points and 16 rebounds.

"Just because a team wants you and they ask about you, they want you on their team," Lue said. "That doesn’t mean we want to trade you. That just means people like you."

The Cavs like Kevin Love, too, and they don’t want to trade him.

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.