Minnesota Timberwolves: What if… Kevin Love had never been injured
By Ethan Becker
2013-14 Season
Yeah, they stuck with Love. I mean, they so clearly stuck with Love. Like, almost before the sentence was out of his mouth Saunders had already made a trade.
Now, unlike Kahn, Saunders was actually a pretty savvy general manager, and so he stuck Barea onto the Minnesota Timberwolves’ trade for Luc A Moute.
Minnesota gives the Sacramento Kings Barea and Derrick Williams, and the Kings give the Wolves Mbah A Moute and a pick swap, with the better of the 2015 first round picks going to Minnesota, so long as it’s not in the top-5.
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Around this time in real life, Minnesota was surging, but Love was upset over the franchise questioning the legitimacy of his hand injury (David Kahn was like, really bad, you guys). The mistrust sowed some seeds of dissent into Love, and he cited it as one main reason for leaving.
Instead, now the franchise has shown that they value him, at least a little, and Saunders is already saying that if Love stays he’s going to move the heavens and earth to get him a max deal. The confidence in Love turns into confidence for him on the court, and he goes to the All-Star Game for the third straight season.
Meanwhile, Rubio was now developed into a head-turning prospect. Not a pure scorer by any means, but Rubio was averaging a double-double in points and assists (in reality he averaged 9.5 points and 8.6 assists, so, not a huge leap here), and he and Kevin Love are forming what looks like a beginnings of a Big-3 with veteran Kevin Martin.
Throw in a supporting cast of Shabazz Mohammad, Corey Brewer, and Gorgui Dieng, and things were beginning to look up for Minnesota.
The Minnesota Timberwolves end up going 45-37, but still miss out on a postseason appearance in the tough Western Conference.