Kevin Love To Golden State: Just A Matter Of Time

If you’re an NBA fan, you just have to love this time of the year. Sure, the season is over and it will be one-hundred-something days until a meaningful NBA game is played, but the sadness that comes with the conclusion of the NBA Finals never really has a chance to set in because the offseason happenings begin so quickly. Had the NBA Finals went to a seventh game this year, the NBA Draft would’ve been just six days later. That’s not even enough time to completely get over a cold.

Even before the NBA Finals ended journalists, reporters and analysts had already completed their annual transformation into a bunch of thirteen year old children, spending their days spreading rumors and gossip. Mid-June through mid-July is an absolutely fascinating time to be a basketball fan. Granted, there will be times when your head will spin and you’ll definitely feel like almost everything you read or hear is a massive heap of bullshit, but if you can look past that I guarantee you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

If you’re a Golden State Warriors fan at least you can take comfort in knowing that your team is committed to winning immediately. They were a major player in all of the offseason hoo-ha last year, inserting themselves right into the thick of Dwight Howard’s ‘Indecision’ and later making their own splashy move by clearing up the necessary cap space to sign veteran swingman Andre Iguodala. Like last year, the Warriors are frequent guests in the NBA rumor mill this summer and appear to be actively attempting to upgrade a roster that won 51 games in the Western Conference gauntlet last year.

The Warriors front office clearly believes that their time is now, and they may be right. That’s why they were once one of the favorites to land Kevin Love. That’s why they didn’t recklessly gut their roster to acquire him. That’s why I still believe Kevin Love will be a member of the Golden State Warriors before the 2014-15 regular season begins.

You have to remember, just because everyone in NBA circles is going to be worked up into a tizzy for the next four weeks or so, the offseason maneuvering doesn’t end then. It’s not as if a bell rings and teams head home for summer vacation and await the next regular season to start. There is still about a hundred days before the next season starts. That’s an eternity of down time after the rush of the NBA Draft and free agency signings come to a close around mid-July.

The Love to Golden State deal is momentarily dead. But the NBA rumor mill isn’t some prototypical TV drama where when characters die—or in this case, when trade rumors die—they are gone forever. The NBA rumor mill is Lost, where like the characters, trade rumors never really die. You just wait; come mid-August Golden State and Minnesota will be on the phone again, trying to figure out a deal. It’s just a matter of time.

Again, Golden State wants to improve and they feel that adding Kevin Love is the best way to do just that. Steve Kerr wants a stretch four for his offense and while Channing Frye might be a nice consolation prize, he’s just that… a consolation prize. He’s not Kevin Love. The Warriors wouldn’t have inquired about Love and floated David Lee, Harrison Barnes AND Klay Thompson around if they didn’t really want to get him. The two teams were really, really close to making a deal and then they decided that instead of pulling the trigger on the trade they would rather play a game of chicken. Neither team has blinked, yet.

But come early August when the free agency craze has come and gone, one of the two sides will blink and the teams will come to a deal—if it doesn’t happen before then. Maybe Golden State will blink when they start to think about how much fun a Stephen Curry/Kevin Love nucleus will be. Or maybe they will blink when they consider that a Curry/Love nucleus might be something that attracts LeBron James. One can only hope.

My guess is that it will be the Wolves who blinks and thus gives in. Minnesota is going to get itchy. As soon the Wolves front office really starts to think about Love playing unhappy and inadvertently tanking his trade value, they’ll call Golden State back real quick. Getting David Lee and Klay Thompson back for Kevin Love is the best potential haul they’ve been offered. If they can get Golden State to take on a crappy contract or two—namely, Kevin Martin or J.J. Barea—it’s even better.

Even worse for Minnesota would be if Love unhappily or even happily played the entire season in Minnesota and then left them next summer with nothing to show for it. You know, kind of like what LeBron James and Chris Bosh did to Cleveland and Toronto respectively. One would certainly hope that Minnesota would learn from the past and at least get something in return for their disgruntled star. And history says that the haul could be a pretty fair one.

Orlando turned Dwight Howard into Arron Afflalo, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, a 1^st round pick in the 2014 Draft, a 2017 1^st round draft pick and another 1^st rounder somewhere down the road from Philadelphia. Denver turned Carmelo Anthony into Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, two 2^nd round picks and a 1^st round pick in the 2014 Draft. Sure, you can make the case that these are just pieces coming back in return for star players… but it’s something. Orlando is a promising young team with a nice young nucleus in place going forward. Denver made the Playoffs three consecutive seasons after trading Melo. It’s not a death sentence to trade a great player, especially one who doesn’t want to be playing on that team.

Minnesota will eventually realize this and Golden State will be the beneficiary. For now though, the two teams remain locked in a tense game of chicken. I advise everyone not to get too caught up in the rumors of this trade being dead, because it’s just a formality. Soon enough, the two sides will be talking again. Just be patient and also grateful that the NBA will keep us occupied for the next month or so.

Author: Sonny Giuliano

When I was young my parents told me not to talk to strangers, but if you wanna chat or have a friendly debate about the NBA, then we can make an exception! Follow me on Twitter… it’s gonna be fun.

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2 Comments

1. Ivan Mora

   June 26, 2014 at 11:57 am

   I´m a huge fan of Love, but I dont think the Warriors should split up he splash brothers. They have a good backcourt going on. I think they sould stick it out with Lee and Bogut, who I think despite being injury prone they can def help defensively. Just need to rotate them better. Focus on a better bench and these young warriors could be a threat to the conference finals in the next year or so.

   Reply
   • Sonny Giuliano

     June 26, 2014 at 4:51 pm

     I see your point and actually agree in some ways. I think if you have a chance to get Kevin Love without having to give up Curry, you have to really consider it. In an ideal world Minnesota would give in and take Barnes, Lee and some combination of draft picks for Love though. Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Love and Bogut would be dangerous.

     Reply