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Minnesota figured to struggle this season. The roster is young, the coach (Kurt Rambis) is new, and there are plenty of holes through the roster. But there's always an extra challenge in 'Sota, and this year that extra challenge comes in the form of a fracture of the fourth metacarpal bone in the left hand of Kevin Love that will reportedly sideline the power forward for 6-8 weeks.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Love's hand smacked against the elbow of teammate Stewie Griffin Oleksiy Pecherov as Love collected a rebound. Fitting, that the injury would happen on a rebound, considering Love is one of the league's brightest young board hoarders. His absence will force cohort Al Jefferson to be even more of a vacuum on the glass.

There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.

Here's a quick look at the trades that went down and what they mean:

The Deal: Phoenix sends Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland for Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, a second-round pick in 2010 and cash.

The Thinking: The Cavaliers get an aging O'Neal, with the hope that he can have a productive year playing alongside LeBron James. The only way this trade is a success is if the Cavaliers are the 2009-10 NBA champions. For the Suns, trading O'Neal means that they are beyond tinkering and are leaning toward turning over the personnel of a team that missed the playoffs last season.

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