5 Reasons Why Kevin Love’s Best Option Is The Phoenix Suns

3. The Warriors aren’t the right trade partner:

The Warriors are closer to being a contender than the Suns and they have more attractive pieces to offer like David Lee, Harrison Barnes and/or Klay Thompson. But what good are these higher profile pieces with only Ricky Rubio and the ever-injured Nikola Pekovic left from Minny’s perspective? If the Wolves trade Kevin Love, which they must, they need to start their rebuilding process from scratch. You don’t do that by trading for a 31-year-old former All-Star (Lee), a young prospect whose trade value has never been lower (Barnes) and a stellar shooter who will eventually demand a contract extension that might exceed what he’s actually worth (Thompson).

Plus, since the Warriors do have bigger names to trade, that means the Wolves will want more from Golden State if they choose to avoid the “rebuilding from scratch” strategy they’d be employing by trading with the Suns. That means the Warriors team Love would be joining could be missing an essential piece on the wing in Klay Thompson. That’s an awful lot of roster upheaval in one summer, especially with rookie head coach Steve Kerr taking over the helm.

Is a starting five of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love and Andrew Bogut a sensational prospect? Absolutely. But the Timberwolves will be looking to get as much out of the Warriors as possible since Golden State doesn’t have the kind of draft picks or future assets that other trade partners have. The Dubs would also need to make some major moves to free up enough cap space to re-sign Love after the season’s over and Bogut’s health is never a safe bet. Simply put, downgrading from Love to Lee while throwing in a pair of decent wings isn’t the best offer the Wolves could get and it puts Minnesota on the path to more mediocrity, not rebuilding.