By all accounts, the 25-year-old superstar is available. It is common knowledge the Lakers have been biding both time and cap space to secure major players via free agency, but the possibility of Love opens a new avenue the front office must explore.
The New York Daily News' Mitch Lawrence confirms that Love has told the Minnesota Timberwolves he plans on leaving after next season, and the report also states that a certain team from Los Angeles has his eye:
Kevin Love's people reiterated to the Timberwolves this past week that they had better trade him or else he'll leave via free agency when his contract is up after next season. With Love looking to exit, there's your No. 1 reason the T-wolves have not been able to find a head coach to take over for Rick Adelman. Love wants to play for the Lakers but he's also open to coming to the Knicks.
Shortly after, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post quite the interesting nugget of info: "Another source said the Lakers also will make a monster push at trading for Love, who played at UCLA."
It can be easy to dismiss what the Lakers have to offer the Timberwolves in a massive deal, but don't sleep on the possibility of the front office shipping this year's No. 7 overall to Minnesota. It's not like the Lakers are known for making lottery picks anyway.
Mitch Kupchak has sounded open to the idea for a lengthy period of time now, as captured by the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina:
Yet, Kupchak maintained his stance from last month's exit meetings that the Lakers are open toward trading their current first-round pick should they find a suitable offer.
"It may be a factor," he said. "You can only trade a pick if you have a trading partner, too. So their willingness and what they would be willing to give up would be dependent on the pick."
