For most of this past season, there were constant rumors of Kevin Love wanting to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. With the NBA draft lottery on May 20, rumors have started once again.
With general Mitch Kupchak recently mentioning that the team is willing to trade the lottery pick, Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News is reporting Love’s people have reiterated to the Minnesota Timberwolves this past week that they better trade him or else he will leave via free agency in 2015:
“Kevin Love’s people reiterated to the Timberwolves this past week that they had better trade him or else he’ll leave via free agency when his contract is up after next season.”
Although Love wants to play for the Lakers, he is also considering joining forces with Phil Jackson in New York:
“Love wants to play for the Lakers but he’s also open to coming to the Knicks”
For the Lakers, the results of the draft lottery will likely kick-start the most important off-season for the franchise in nearly a decade. While all the focus has been on filling the vacant head coaching position since Mike D’Antoni’s resignation, Kupchak acknowledged that the franchise ideally wants to know what pick they have first before moving forward with their coaching search.
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With Los Angeles finishing with the sixth worst record in the league, they have a 6.3 percent chance at the top pick and a 21.5 percent chance at the top three. Depending on what pick they actually have on Tuesday, the Lakers may be looking to trade it for an all-star such as Love or Kyrie Irving in order to speed up the rebuilding process.
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