BOSTON — Kevin Love has not done much to hide the fact that he was in Boston this weekend, on what he says was a vacation. But his presence here has fueled speculation that Love would welcome a trade to the Celtics this offseason.
According to league sources, the Timberwolves remain ambivalent about trading Love, who is heading into the final year of his contract and has indicated to the team that he won’t sign an extension before free agency hits next summer.
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Publicly, the Timberwolves are saying they expect Love to be in training camp with the team next fall. But behind the scenes, as one source put it, the Timberwolves are, “paving the way to make something happen sooner rather than later.” Sooner, of course, would be draft night.
The Timberwolves have put out feelers on what possible offers might be on the table for Love on draft night. Despite their public protestations, around the league, front office executives say that the market for Love is open, but the initial asking price is high. While the Timberwolves would expect lottery draft choices in return for Love—including a high pick in this draft—they also want a young player with star potential, according to a source.
The Timberwolves will also need to gauge Love’s reaction to different destinations. Because Love is under contract for next year and can be a free agent in 2015, any team that trades for him would prefer to have an assurance that he would be willing to sign an extension—and with such an assurance, Minnesota can set a higher asking price.
Last month, Yahoo! Sports reported that Sacramento would be willing to trade for Love without knowing whether he would sign an extension, but that is not the Timberwolves’ preference.
Minnesota has, thus far, been underwhelmed with the potential return it could get for Love, which is not a surprise given that we are still more than three weeks away from the draft—the market for a Love trade is still taking shape.
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As one general manager put it, “It won’t be until the week before the draft that this thing gets serious. There is no reason to put your cards on the table too early. If it is going to happen on draft night, it will come together quickly.”
As for the Celtics, making a deal for Love is a priority, even if it costs this year’s top pick, which is No. 6 in the draft. From the Timberwolves’ point of view, the Celtics have plenty of draft picks available—their top pick, plus No. 17 in this draft, as well as picks belonging to themselves and the Clippers in 2015, plus their own and the Nets’ in 2016 and 2018. (Boston has Philadelphia’s pick next year, but only if the Sixers somehow make the playoffs.)
But what Boston is lacking is a young player with high-ceiling potential. The Celtics have no intention of including Rajon Rondo in a Love deal, because playing with Rondo would be one of the main lures in getting Love to sign an extension—and, of course, the Timberwolves already have Ricky Rubio.
Beyond Rondo, the Celtics’ roster mostly consists of decent rotation players like Jared Sullinger, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk. That’s not quite what the Timberwolves have in mind as a return for Love—the question then becomes how much Minnesota values Boston’s picks, and which ones the Celtics would be willing to send.
All in all, the Timberwolves have yet to fully define where Love’s value is. They’re willing to hold out until the summer before making a deal—much as they did when they dealt Kevin Garnett to the Celtics seven years ago—but they’re laying the groundwork, at least, to pull the trigger on draft night.