The Kevin Love trade rumors are starting to heat up heading into the summer and teams like the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, NY Knicks and LA Lakers all could get in on the action and teams like the Bulls and Rockets may try for a Timberwolves deal over targeting LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony in free agency.
Love is not staying in Minnesota long term, as he said he plans on testing the market when he gets the chance and now he could be on his way out this summer. According to ESPN.com, Love prefers the Bulls and the Golden State Warriors, while the Knicks and Lakers are also in play. The Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns could also be wild cards in the mix, as they have the first round picks to get it done.
The Chicago Bulls are looking at Love, James or Anthony and they will likely have to trade Carlos Boozer to get any of those deals done. The Rockets have Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik to move to get enough salary cap space to get a deal done and they will have to make some maneuvers to free up cap space.
Anthony and James are the two main players that can hit the market this summer and it comes a year before Love is eligible to be a free agent, as he has an opt out in his contract for 2015. Anthony is the primary target for the Knicks and he also reportedly will get interest from the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls, while LeBron also is a target for those teams but he is less likely to leave. The three names of Love, LeBron and Carmelo will take up a lot of time this summer and teams that miss out on one may go after the other two, while some teams may only have enough ammo to make a single run at one of the players.
The Knicks feel that they have the inside track on signing Anthony and that is because they can offer him the most money and longest contract, but based on the way the season ended nothing is certain. Anthony missed the playoffs for the first time in his career with the Knicks this past season and on top of that, the team took a huge step back after winning the division and 54 games in 2013. The team fired their head coach and while Phil Jackson is a big name, the team looks to be multiple years away from contending and that will not fly for Anthony.
Carmelo is getting to his 30s and he realizes that the biggest thing missing is a championship and he is hoping to at least play for one let alone win one in the next five years. This will be the last chance for Anthony to hit the market when he is at the top of his talents and that makes his decision even more important and the Knicks are hoping he stays. The Bulls have tried to recruit Anthony and he could fit in well with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and he has also expressed praise in the past for head coach Tom Thibodeau.