So Kevin Love wants out of Minnesota.
Kevin Love injured his right hand during the third quarter of the Timberwolves-Nuggets game on Jan. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
We have heard this so many times, and every time Love has
denied it. But after six seasons of missing
out on the playoffs, Love probably will not be a Timberwolf for much
longer. He will probably be traded even
before the draft on June 26th.
So, what teams could be in the running to get Love, and what sort of
trade pieces do they have to make it worth the Timberwolves while?
There is a problem before who would trade for him can be
discussed: Love’s contract. Obviously,
if a team is looking to trade for Love, they want him long term. His contract has a guaranteed year (the 14-15
season) and then a player option for the next year. If he declines the player option, then he
becomes an unrestricted free agent. This
is an issue for any team that trades for him; if he doesn’t like it there, then
he can just opt out the next year. No
one wants to give up the farm for a one year rental, so teams will not trade
for him unless they get a promise from him that he will resign. He can sign a contract extension this summer,
so this is a possibility. But if a team
that Love does not want to be on trades for him, he will just opt out in a
year. So, knowing that, I will be
posting a few of the places Kevin Love might go and what sort of asset the team
that wants him has in a four part series, starting with the Lakers.
Love would definitely enjoy being in LA, since he grew up
nearby, was a Lakers fan as a kid, and also attended UCLA for college. Besides that, this option seems like the worst
for the Timberwolves, and also for Love. The Lakers have 35.3 million dollars in salary
for the 2014-15 season, so they will have 27.9 million in cap space if the
projected salary cap of 63.2 million ends up being the actual salary cap. That is if Nick “Swaggy P” Young accepts his
player option (which he probably won’t) and if they accept the team option for
Kendall Marshall (which they may or may not).
That leaves them with only 3 guaranteed players on the roster: Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, and Robert Sacre for
a total of 33.2 million guaranteed cash.
So for this, let’s just assume that they decided to accept Kendall
Marshall’s team option, which would make their salary 34.1 million with 4
players on the roster. That would give
the Lakers 29.1 million to work with.
They also have a high lottery pick, projected to be the 6th
pick, if the lottery plays out without any major shakeups. They don’t have any other picks that they
could give up, except possibly their 2019 first rounder.
So, what really makes this deal happen? There isn’t much to offer the T-Wolves after
the pick, besides shedding some salary (JJ Barea comes to mind). That is not as enticing as some of the other
offers, so this seems like a pipe dream.
Even if it did happen, Love would have to carry the team with the expectation
of winning another title or two with Kobe.
He would have to carry the team and hope Kobe and Nash could stay
healthy. Because Love’s contract is
worth 15.7 million in 14-15 and Barea’s contract is worth 4.5 million in 14-15,
the Lakers salary would already be at 54.3 million. That means the Lakers would have 8.9 million
in cap space to sign free agents (plus their Mid-level exception which would be
5.15 million because they would not be over the cap). With only Kendall Marshall, Steve Nash, Kobe
Bryant, Kevin Love, JJ Barea, and Robert Sacre on the roster, they would have
to get really lucky to even put a team together. And if they did get a team together from minimum contract players, there is no way this is a contender, especially in the tougher western conference. Kobe would have to be in his prime, and Steve Nash would also have to be not as old as he is. With all of these issues,
Kevin Love to the Lakers seems dumb from both the T-Wolves and Love’s point of
view, even though Love would get to be where he wanted. He would be better off in a few other destinations I will discuss on future blog posts.
Check out Part 2 here: http://basketballwriting.blogspot.com/2014/05/kevin-love-and-where-he-could-go-part-2.html
All the salary and cap info came from Hoopshype.com
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