The NBA offseason is starting to move into training camp and the preseason and with the summer winding down, it's always a good idea to check out some trade rumors and the good people at Bleacher Report put together some interesting possibilities for the 2013-14 campaign, including the Timberwolves moving Kevin Love to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
According to Bleacher Report, a deal could go down between the two teams depending on how their seasons go in 2013-14 and with the Timberwolves coming off of a disappointing year, they might be ready to shake things up. The Timberwolves want to keep Kevin Love, but since he likely will be commanding a superstar contract for his next free agent deal, the team may opt to trade him and one suggestion was the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The team has talent they could send back to Minnesota, including Jeremy Lamb, who came in the James Harden deal, as well as Kendrick Perkins, whose deal will be up with the team in 2015 and that could be appealing for the Timberwolves since that money will come off the books. Love can opt out and become a free agent after the next season is finished and that could be a scary thought for the Timberwolves, as they also have to re-sign Ricky Rubio and will have to find money to build the roster around him after dishing out plenty this offseason.
The Timberwolves were one of the most active teams this summer, signing Corey Brewer and Ronny Turiaf while bringing back Chase Budinger and trading away Like Ridnour and also dealing for Kevin Martin in a sign and trade deal to get him playing for his old coach Rick Adelman again. The team could decide to move Love after the season to ensure they get some talent for him and after signing Nikola Pekovic to an extension, they feel they have a solid young core to build around.
The team also has Shabazz Muhammad after taking him in the first round of the draft and if the Timberwolves have a bad season like they did last year, Flip Saunders may try something a bit crazy to get things turned around. Love is a rebounding machine, but after bringing back Pek the Wolves should be play down low and the Thunder would love to have Love reunited with his former teammate Russell Westbrook and it could help take some pressure off the frontcourt down low for the team.
Serge Ibaka could be involved in the deal as well and the team may want to deal him after they saw how bad the James Harden trade turned out for them. Ibaka is a solid player, but Harden is a superstar and the Thunder were lacking that immensely in the postseason last year after Westbrook was injured. Kevin Love has played with Westbrook and Kevin Durant for Team USA before and the three would make for one of the best starting three players in the NBA if a deal goes down. Crazier things have happened.