Just a little under a year ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers sacrificed a ton for the sake of trying to win now.

We all remember how it went down. Cleveland selected Kansas star Andrew Wiggins with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. In the span of one day in mid-July, the team’s focus shifted from building around Wiggins and Kyrie Irving to scrapping any sort of long-term projects and gunning for a title as soon as possible. It’s the kind of thing you’ll see when LeBron James commits to signing with said team.

So, knowing they needed another superstar to join Irving and James, the Cavs traded Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love. It was an incredibly risky move at the time, even before anyone knew Wiggins’ full potential. Everyone knew Love had one more guaranteed year on his contract, and despite his insistence on being in Cleveland for the long haul, you just couldn’t set it in stone.

Wiggins ended up winning Rookie of the Year in a landslide. Love had trouble meshing with James and saw his stats decline. Word of his desire to flee to the west coast started permeating through the rumor mill. Before Love could make a true postseason impact, a dislocated shoulder sidelined him for the remainder of the year.

So, coming into free agency, the possibility that Cleveland sent away a potential superstar for a one-year rental of Love was becoming a little too real for fans to comprehend. If this indeed took place, it’d be a big blow to the Cavs. Sure, they could still contend without Love. But, to give away so much for a season’s worth of Love is a big-time swing-and-miss.

Yesterday, though, all of these fears were put to bed. Not only did Love re-sign with Cleveland despite still-present whispers of his departure, he signed for the full five years. With this move, the Cavs can feel much more comfortable about the Wiggins trade, regardless of how he pans out.

The potential for Wiggins exploding was always present when Cleveland started considering this trade. It doesn’t matter how long Love ends up staying with the team, people will always find themselves wondering how Wiggins would look with the Cavs.

At the same time, it’s better have such a thing take place when Love is on Cleveland’s roster for the foreseeable future. Both he and Wiggins are franchise-changing players. For the Cavs, as long as one of them was on their team for more than one season, it’s a win.

It was easier to validate this trade last summer, when Wiggins hadn’t stepped on the court yet and there appeared to be a “handshake agreement” Love was going to re-sign with the Cavs at the end of the upcoming season. Obviously things could change, but at that moment, the move made a ton of sense.

Once Wiggins proved he wasn’t nearly as raw as people projected, all while Love had a rocky transition in Cleveland, people started wondering if the Cavs were going to lose their bet after going all-in. Only getting Love for one season, complete with an injury early in the playoffs, would’ve been a major loss for the team. That this would occur after giving away a now-surefire rising star would be devastating.

After yesterday, Cleveland can rejoice about getting Love back into the fold. Much of the excitement from this signing is merely due to the fact the team’s Big Three is intact (pending James’ expected re-signing).

At the same time, you know the team also took a huge sigh of relief when they knew they didn’t give away Wiggins for a rental. It all just goes to make yesterday that much sweeter for the Cavs.

Casey Drottar is the Cleveland Beat Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook