With Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant under contract next season and Pau Gasol having one foot out the door towards free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers are in need of a few big names to fill the roster for next season. The Lakers are preparing to rebuild before the 2014 starts and have looked into both free agency and trades as their chosen method. However, one big name might not be available like originally hoped.
The Lakers and Kevin Love appeared to be a match made in basketball heaven. The Lakers need a growing star. Love has one year remaining on his contract before hitting the market with almost no intentions of resigning to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers had targeted Love as a potential trade this offseason, hoping Minnesota would shop him for something in return before the forward simply walks away in 2015.
According to Steve Kyler of BasketballInsiders.com, the Timberwolves will not be making Love available for trades this summer. Instead, they will attempt to re-sign Love before letting him opt out of his contract next summer. Kyler writes that while the popular opinion is to trade Love now while they can control the market, the team wants to keep the star around for one more year, hoping to build around him and make Minnesota a favorable team to stay with in the future.
When Love becomes a free agent, he will command a lot of money. The chances that Minnesota is able to retain him are pretty slim considering he is ready to contend for a championship. The Lakers could certainly offer that, but only if the Timberwolves allow it.
So what if Love is not available this offseason? The Lakers are still looking for some big names to put on the roster. According to ESPN.com, the Lakers are naturally interested in the two best free agents available, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. The team is hoping that Bryant still has enough weight to pull in a few big names since he is under contract for the next two seasons. Anthony seems like the best fit. He is looking to be in a big market and contend for a championship. The jury is still out on whether or not that will be New York, so the Lakers stand a chance.
Most of the Lakers' potential moves are mere speculation at this point, but if Love really is not available, it might throw a wrench in the plans. Los Angeles will not tolerate two-straight seasons of these types of results so getting the best available is necessary.
