Minnesota Timberwolves: Time To Trade Kevin Love?

The Minnesota Timberwolves are off to a 3-2 start and fans are beginning to have some sort of belief in the team once again. Their optimism is cautious and rightly so, but the beginning of the season has started well enough for the team going forward. The real bright spot however has been the play of former All-Star Kevin Love, who is in the (very) early MVP conversation. He’s unlikely to sustain his current level of play, he’s averaging 26.2 points and 14.6 rebounds to start the season. Minnesota fans won’t care if his form dips some however, as long as he remains injury free. Love did only play 18 games for the team last season after all. With this personal hot start Love has found himself on, could now be the optimum chance to cash in on arguably their best player?

Kevin Love may not be a Minnesota Timberwolves player for much longer. (Flickr.com/Keith Allison)

It may seem silly and flippant to even consider getting rid of the 25-year-old, but there is a method to the madness. Now in his sixth season with the Timberwolves, Love has yet to make the playoffs with this team. That is not all on him of course, injuries have been the key issue here, both to him and essentially every other player associated with the organization. The fact remains he has had his personal injury problems though and breaking the same hand twice last season will not have increased the value of his stock. This hot start balances those injury concerns out, everybody knows he can play and play well, but does he even want to be in Minnesota anyway?

In a not so private spat between himself and then-general manager David Kahn during the 2011-12 season, Love spoke of his desire to receive a five-year max deal from the Timberwolves organization going forward, thus making him their designated player. That honor instead went to the slick Spanish point guard, Ricky Rubio, a move that Love himself seemed to take some offense to. Kahn has since left the Timberwolves and Love did agree to a four-year, $62 million contract, with the option to opt out of the third year.

There is no immediate danger of him leaving the team, at least not until 2015, and with the aforementioned Kahn no longer around either, there is every reason to think that the former UCLA player is content where he is. But there is no doubting he felt at the time he should have been given the biggest contract available to dish out and that when it went elsewhere, he was both upset and offended by that. It is understandable, too; he has played with passion and commitment from day one on mostly not very good teams. The affection and desire to hang around for the vast majority of his career may have dwindled some and it is not possible to build a contenting roster around uncertainty like that.

The Timberwolves don’t factor to be major players next summer when a plethora of free agents and prized rookies will become available, so what exactly is the organization doing? Love’s next contract will be the one that sees him through the bulk of his prime and it would be foolish to think he hasn’t thought about testing the waters of free agency to see what other options are available to him.

For this reason, does it not make sense to explore some trade scenarios? The Timberwolves could even package some dead wood/expiring contracts and the enigma that is Derrick Williams into the equation as well and get a lot of great pieces in return. Of course management would rather keep him, but teams like the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers have been burned spectacularly in the past when their stars left for nothing and both still feel the effects today. The general consensus is that Kevin Love is a better and more complete player than Blake Griffin and can also match three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard in rebounding ability. His health is the concern of course, but GMs around the league will have been salivating at the shows he has been putting on early in the season. He is a two-way player and a stretch power forward, a real gem of a player when utilized properly.

These aren’t the words any Timberwolves fan will want to hear, but surely some must realize that Love has the potential to walk away from this team at some point in the not too distant future. His stock has never been higher, so why not cash in now when the team stands to get some extremely good value for the two-time All-Star. Who knows, he could be downed soon by injury once more and an opportunity as good as this one might not roll around again before he potentially leaves anyway. Is it time for Minnesota to pull the trigger on this one and relatively soon?

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