We interrupt this season’s draft coverage to bring you breaking news:
The Denver Nuggets are REALLY trying to put together a trade package to land superstar power forward Kevin Love.
Yes, you read that right. The Nuggets are engaged in Love trade talks just a year after getting burned by trading for Andre Iguodala. Love, like Iguodala, would come to Denver with just one year left on his contract, and the Nuggets would have to give up assets with no guarantee Love decides to stay. The Boston Globe even reported that the Nuggets have one of the top three offers in the mix.
Are they crazy? Didn’t this team just learn that “renting” or trading for a player with one year left on his contract ends badly? Isn’t it clear Kevin Love is going to opt out of his contract, and head to a big market team like the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers?
No, no, and no. The NBA is a superstar league, and teams have to take advantage when the opportunity like landing a proven superstar presents itself. Even though Andre Iguodala was a bad experience for the Nuggets, and their fans, Love is a completely different player with different goals, and this is a completely different franchise without George Karl and Masai Ujiri. Through winning, the Nuggets can convince Love to stay.
Love won’t come cheap though. Most reports say the Nuggets would have to give up at least their rising star Kenneth Faried, a starter in Wilson Chandler, and some other piece like this year’s first round pick in order to bring him to Denver. So, if he leaves after just one season, the Nuggets will have paid a big price for no superstar. The risk is immense, and the Nuggets would be in a bad place if he left after just one season.
However, Love is worth betting the house on. Free agency will be dangerous next season with or without Kevin Love because Kenneth Faried’s contract ends and he can leave Denver just as easily as Love can. Plus, the Nuggets would free up worthy playing time for youngsters Quincy Miller and Evan Fournier with Wilson Chandler gone, and the team would give Brian Shaw a chance to sell Kevin Love on a promising future in the Mile High City.
And oh yea, did I forget to mention? THE NUGGETS WOULD BE GETTING KEVIN LOVE! This superstar power forward averaged 26 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists a game last year! They would be crazy not to pull the trigger on that trade, and they need to stay in trade talks until the bitter end. Love is the superstar we all hoped Iguodala would turn out to be, and he instantly makes the Nuggets a team to reckon with.
Love brings the superstar element back to team that won 57 games just two years ago, and he completes a solid core with Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari to round out a Big Three. The Nuggets starting lineup would be Lawson, Randy Foye, Gallinari, Kevin Love, and JaVale McGee/Timofey Mozgov, and that starting lineup is something the Nuggets and the city of Denver could be excited about.
Free agency is a scary beast for small market teams like the Denver Nuggets, but they can’t be afraid when the opportunity to get closer to a championship presents itself. If the Nuggets are truly about winning the Larry O’Brien trophy, then they go for Love now in the hopes that a winning season and a promising young core keeps him in town after next season.