The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking like a team that will deal at the deadline and Andre Miller and Tony Allen have emerged as options for a Kevin Love playoff run, as Chase Budinger, JJ Barea and Ronny Turiaf could be used as trade chips with teams like the Memphis Grizzlies or the Denver Nuggets.
The Timberwolves have long been considered a team that will be active at the deadline and that is due to the fact that they will do anything to ensure that Kevin Love remains with the team for the long term. Love is currently signed to an extension that lasts through next season and makes him a free agent in 2016, but he can also opt out after the 2015 season and that is the primary focus for the Timberwolves. The team came into last season with high expectations and thought they would make the playoffs out west, but an injury to Love and injuries to Ricky Rubio knocked all that off the table and that made the expectations for this season even higher.
The team is currently on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs and while rumors have come out that the team could trade Love, right now they are focused on getting the team into playoff position to convince him to stay. The team knows they have this year and next year to show they are committed to winning and if they can turn it around now and in the 2014-15 season, there is a chance that Love could stay. The team and Love were at odds around when he signed his extension, but that was David Kahn and Love has said that he has a much better relationship now with the front office and Flip Saunders and that could be the key to ultimately keeping him.
The Wolves have already made one significant move this season by trading Derrick Williams to the Kings and that opened some things up front for them, but with Nikola Pekovic injured, the team needs to make some more moves. Kevin Martin is out for an indefinite period of time and this comes after Pek came down with an ankle injury and that could make the Timberwolves more desperate at the deadline than many expected.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Grizzlies and Wolves could be working on a deal that includes Chase Budinger and guard J.J. Barea, while the Grizz would like to move Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince in that trade. The report says that the Wolves are looking at the deadline as a way to try and make a playoff push and adding someone like Price could be a help, while Allen is a defensive specialist and he could make up for some of the producing missing by Martin. Price is getting paid $7.2 million this season and just over $7 million next season, while right now reports say the deal is "fluid" and could get closer as the deadline on Thursday moves closer on the schedule.
The Grizzlies could use come depth as they make a playoff push themselves and with the Wolves hovering near .500, this could be a move that gets them near the eighth playoff spot in the west.