Kevin Love’s free agency is more than a year away, yet it feels like he’s hitting the open market tomorrow.
Why? Probably because his future is being picked apart from every different angle imaginable. One day he’s headed for the Los Angeles Lakers. The next day he could stay with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The day after that he’s thinking about becoming a professional breakdancer. If it’s Wednesday, he may be considering life as a full-time beard-grower.
Following the Timberwolves’ dismantling of the Lakers, we were told yet another tale of Love’s future.
Though we’re a little late on this, ESPN Los Angeles’ Dave McMenamin says that in addition to the Lakers, Love will consider the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks in 2015 free agency:
While Love downplayed his interest, the Lakers clearly could use a player of Love’s caliber to jump-start their rebuilding process. Especially with Kobe Bryant recently putting the screws to management to turn things around as soon as possible so he can contend for another championship in the twilight of his career.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported Friday the Lakers would be willing to trade their upcoming pick in the heralded NBA draft — likely to be in the top half of the lottery — to land Love.
While Minnesota could certainly decide to go that route and hit the restart button, there is no assurance that the Lakers are truly Love’s most desired destination.
A source familiar with Love’s thinking told ESPNLosAngeles.com that it’s not just L.A. that is appealing to Love; he’s enamored with the idea of being “big time in a big city,” and that list of potential places he’d seek includes New York and Chicago, as well.
Here’s the thing: Obviously we have no idea how Love is actually feeling. And obviously he hasn’t made a decision yet. And obviously we don’t know if even a sliver of this is true.
Only, that last part may actually be what’s not true. This latest report could be true. Any number of the reports that have been dropped since the dawn of time may have been true.
Although there’s no way of knowing for sure, Love-related rumors have come in volumes and, well, that speaks volumes. There has to be a shred of truth to what’s being revealed. That’s how it works, after all. We get part of the picture. Not the whole picture, or even half the picture. Part of it.
As of now, it seems Love’s not happy with continuously missing the playoffs. That much we’ve picked up on. He may also envy the marketing opportunities available to his superstar brethren. Naturally, he could want the same, and naturally, that could lead him to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Each of those teams could have cap space available in 2015, funds they’re ready to throw Love’s way. This is all assuming Love actually wants to leave. We don’t actually know. At the moment, let’s just say he’s not entirely convinced he should stay. That’s how I’m looking at it.
By 2015, things could change. They could change even before then. The Timberwolves are tasked with handling this situation as they see necessary. They could trade Love this season in order to avoid losing him for nothing, or they can let this ride out into next July, when Love will make his long-awaited decision.
If the latter winds up becoming reality, buckle up and batten down the hatches, and get ready for one more year’s worth of rumor-mill hell.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
