Breaking down Wiggins/Thompson for Love: Business of NBA

By Christopher Slack on July 24, 2014

Outside of where LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony planned to play basketball during the 2014-2015 season and beyond, one of the most talked about rumors in the NBA has been the trading of Cleveland Cavaliers G Andrew Wiggins for Minnesota Timberwolves F Kevin Love.

It isn’t a secret that the Timberwolves forward has been wanting out of The North Star State.  Since the end of the 2012-2013 season, Love has made it clear that he did not want to extend his career in Minnesota due to the Timberwolves lack of winning during his NBA career.

While the Timberwolves have added players over Loves NBA career, such as G Kevin Martin, C Nikola Pekovic and G Ricky Rubio, the Timberwolves just cannot compete in a strong Western Conference.

During the 2013-2014 NBA season, the Timberwolves finished 40-42.  If they had competed in the Eastern Conference with their 40-42 record, they would’ve been the eighth seed in the playoffs and could’ve had a better record in the East.

While it’s safe to say that Love won’t be in Minnesota next season, no one really knows where he’ll end up.

There have been reports that Love has wanted to play on the West coast, making teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors interested in the big man.  Love was born in Oregon and played his collegiate ball at UCLA.  Another factor, and one of the biggest that no one really talks about, is that his girlfriend currently lives in Los Angeles. Signing with a team there would allow him to be closer to her.

There have also been reports that Love wants to play in a big market.  This has led the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks to be interested in him.  The Celtics have six future first-round draft picks owed to them over the next four seasons.

While draft picks can be very enticing and valuable for a rebuilding team, the Timberwolves have made it clear they want players who can make an impact for their club right now, which is why the team is mostly interested in Wiggins and Warriors G Klay Thompson.

To many around the NBA, Wiggins could be the very next household-name player.  The problem right now is that his offensive game is very limited and needs to be improved, and a timetable like that is years, not months or days.

Thompson is the complete opposite of Wiggins.  After being drafted in 2011, he’s made his mark as a premier three-point shooter in the league and Warrior G Stephen Curry’s wingman.

But then again, neither guard could be traded.  The landscape of the league is always changing.  You can always think something is going to happen and then it just doesn’t.

If you asked NBA fans two years ago if the Rockets would be title contenders with James Harden, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh, even though Bosh resigned with the Miami Heat, or if Carmelo Anthony would start a dynasty with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, people would laugh at the thought.

However, if you asked an NBA fan today if Love would be traded by the start of the regular season, they would think about it seriously.

I don’t like to express my opinion and that’s because journalists are supposed to keep their articles neutral, but many people forget about the business side of trades and how they affect a team individually.

Everyone knows Love wants out of Minnesota and he has every right to do so, but if the Timberwolves don’t trade Love before the start of training camp, they’re hypothetically telling their team that “we’re going to trade him at the all-star break, so enjoy the next five months of being asked about Kevin every day.”  If that were to happen, you’re basically telling your players you don’t care about them and their contribution to the team.

The media has failed to mention Howard’s last season with the Orlando Magic.  From the time Howard’s camp made it clear that he wanted to be a Brooklyn Net, chaos erupted in Orlando.  That, of course, led to the two teams not being able to work out a trade to fit Howard’s wishes, to him then signing a contract that allowed him to stay with the Magic through the 2012-2013 season and waiving his right to opt out of his contract early.

While I haven’t been in the Timberwolves locker room before, as a fan of the NBA and the game of basketball, you can’t help but think that there was just too much distraction in the Magic locker room that season.  It even made matters worse that Howard resigned with the team and a new general manager in Rob Hennigan had to trade him from the team in order to fix the dysfunction and cause hope for the club again.

No one can say the Howard-Orlando situation will happen in Minnesota with Love, but the Timberwolves do realize that they cannot allow something like that to happen again.

At the end of the day, you must focus on your future, but you must also focus on the group of guys who have committed to the team at the current time.

While we cannot predict where Love will go or what Minnesota will get, at the end of the day, Love will be gone and the Timberwolves will get assets for Love’s services to the team.  Someone will be left unhappy, and it usually ends up being the former team.

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