Kevin Love rumors: Wolves may wait until after draft

The last we had on Kevin Love, the Bulls were in the running and the Wolves were looking less for draft picks and more for young starting-caliber players.

Sean Deveney has a report today that seems to follow that same logic.

For more than a month now, Minnesota has been laying the groundwork for a potential deal that would send its star forward elsewhere, with the Timberwolves looking for a return that includes draft picks but, more important, includes ready-to-produce young players. Ideally the Timberwolves would get the deal done by the end of draft night.

But, according to a league source, the Timberwolves are prepared to wait out the draft and instead focus on Plan B - taking advantage of the aftermath of the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes.

The proposed deal from the Golden State Warriors was reportedly close this week, though had very little (if at all) to do with this upcoming draft as the Warriors have no picks to give. They seem to be still trying to figure out if they want to deal Klay Thompson, and it's led to some reportedly wacky team inner-squabbling. Chad Ford has said all along that Thompson is in the deal, it's just minor pieces that's holding things up at this point, which would probably mean a deal will get done as soon as draft night.

But if the Wolves are trying to gain leverage by sitting out until after the draft, that's one thing. Trying to involve other suitors isn't reportedly going so well. Woj had a report that a deal with the Cavs (involving the #1 pick) never gained much steam due to Kevin Love indicating he won't sign an extension there.

This is news that Love is already involved in determining his destination. However I'm not sure that any team should expect Love to sign an extension now. He stands to make a lot more money (over more years) by becoming a free agent (he could also opt-in for 2015-16, which could be a way to mitigate risk for both sides). Hopefully this report is less about a team wanting Love to immediately sign an extension as it was that the general sense from Love is that he doesn't want to play there. I have a feeling (and it's been reported) that he would be more amiable to playing for the Bulls. However I hope the Bulls are not holding out for him to compromise his long-term earnings by immediately signing a 3-year extension.

Regardless of all that, though, if the end result is that the Wolves hold on to Love through the draft and try to approach Melo-suitors, that is good news for the Bulls. Chicago is apparently in this linear decision-making mode where they are 'focused' on Melo first. This way they can do that without worry that another team doesn't swoop in for Love while they're waiting.