The NBA offseason in 2014 has Kevin Love as the main target in trade rumors and a number of teams are angling to trade for him, including the Houston Rockets, NY Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves have to decide whether to trade Love this summer, keep him for the season or wait until the deadline next year and as this goes on, two teams in the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns have first round picks that could make things interesting.
Love has long been expected to opt out of his contract after next season in the summer of 2015 if he remains with the Timberwolves and is not traded and he has not made it clear that he is not signing an extension with the team. Minnesota convinced Love to sign and extension a couple years ago and gave him the opt out to get it done and now the clock is ticking on a trade. According to ESPN.com, Love likes the Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors the best for a deal, as they are winning situations with talented rosters. The Timberwolves have so far given no indication about what they will actually do, with owner Glen Taylor saying that the team will not trade Love and other reports from ESPN.com and Pro Basketball Talk reporting that the team is open to listneing to offers.
Minnesota had hoped that they could sign back Love to another extension if the team was a playoff contender, but Love was injured the season before last and played in just a handful of games and while he was healthy this year, the team once again missed the postseason. The team has some young talent like Ricky Rubio, but Love is getting to the stage where he wants to win and wants to play on a bigger stage and if the team doesn't trade him, they risk losing him for nothing over next summer, because he is definitely not staying in Minnesota.
The Bulls are a very interesting option for Love, as they have the players to move that could sway the Timberwolves to deal, with names like Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler and Tony Snell options along with draft picks. The team also is a near-championship ready roster with Derrick Rose coming back and Joakim Noah already there and if the Bulls miss out on Love, they likely will go after Carmelo Anthony as a free agent target from the Knicks. SI.com reported that the Bulls and the Houston Rockets are the two teams to watch other than the Knicks in the Anthony sweepstakes and if both those teams miss out on big trades for Love or Rajon Rondo, they will go hard at swaying Anthony.
The Love situation and what happens with Anthony has some overlap, as whoever signs Anthony likely will not be able to get Love in a trade along with that. The Warriors have some nice pieces in Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and David Lee to trade if they want to get Love, while teams like the Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns could be wild card teams in the mix with the first round picks they have.
