by Marcel Mutoni / @ marcel_mutoni
The Kevin Love-to-LA rumors continue to gain steam, but now, Dallas is also said to be joining the K-Love derby.
The thinking goes that Love wants to hoop in Hollywood, but of course, Minnesota doesn’t want to give up their franchise player.
Per CBS Sports:
The Lakers, Love’s first choice, “have the best shot” of landing the Southern California native, one person familiar with the player’s thinking said. There is no incentive in the CBA for Love to sign an extension with Minnesota before he has a chance to decline his player option and hit the open market in July 2015.
Giving up significant assets for Love would be problematic for any team that isn’t confident it will be able to sign him when he becomes a free agent. That is obviously not an issue for the Lakers.
In the end, it will fall on Timberwolves president Flip Saunders to pull the trigger on a Love deal or wait him out and hope he’s able to turn the franchise’s fortunes around in time to persuade him to stay. Minnesota has yet to make the playoffs in Love’s five seasons and is likely headed to the lottery again this year.
According to the report, other teams around the NBA are looking to package a “premium” first-round pick in a potential trade for Kevin Love. Naturally, Mavs owner Mark Cuban is doing all he can to deny the rumor of his team’s pursuit of the star forward.
Per the Dallas Morning News:
“I know what we’re talking about and not talking about,” Cuban said before Tuesday’s game against Miami. “We take pride in the fact that you never read about our deals before they happen. So if you read about them, you know what that means.”
This could be a case of the Mavericks being used as leverage or as a default setting by some league sources when talking about possible landing spots for players, which is something Cuban said happens a lot.
“Whether it’s free agents or trades,” he said. “But it’s actually changing some because it’s just a lot harder to make trades these days. If you read about it, you know it’s not true. I don’t know if we got the Beach Boys booked.”
For what it’s worth, the Timberwolves are said to be unwilling to deal Kevin Love by this Thursday’s 3pm trade deadline.
