Rumor by rumor, the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves more and more displaced from the Kevin Love sweepstakes, a feeding frenzy they were supposed to conquer.
And still can.
Lacking out-of-this-world assets, the Lakers aren't going to trade for Love. That's not going to happen. Superior packages are on the table—offerings that put whatever and whomever the Lakers can deliver to shame.
But while the link between Love and Los Angeles has cooled, it hasn't been extinguished entirely. It was only months ago that an Eastern Conference executive told CBS Sports' Ken Berger everyone "knows he wants to go to the Lakers." Those ties are still alive and, truthfully, nothing has changed.
The Lakers were never favorites—or even likely—to trade for Love. Free agency was their best chance at landing him, and it still is. They need him to hit the open market, which he will. They also need him to genuinely consider leaving the team he finishes next season with, which he may or may not.
Love's willingness to be courted next summer, to make free-agency romances more than negligible formalities and free dinners, is indentured to the end of this trade extravaganza and the impact it has on his thinking.
Trade Timing
Timing matters here.
Ideally, the Minnesota Timberwolves wouldn't move Love at all, forcing him to finish next season with the team most believe he will leave, making him fair game. But that remains unlikely, even though Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders is in no rush to make a decision, according Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski:
Patience cannot be mistaken for misunderstanding. There's too much smoke for there to be no fire.
Minnesota knows Love is a flight risk. It's not likely to sit on that risk for another year just so it can lose him for nothing, per ESPN 1500's Da...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
