The 2014 NBA draft lottery is less than a week away with plenty of teams looking to right the ship with a high pick. One of those teams is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Not only are the T’Wolves hoping for a high pick in the draft lottery, but there may be much more on the line heading into the draft on June 26 than bringing in a promising young player. Rumors have run rampant over the past few months about Kevin Love’s immediate future with many believing he’ll be headed elsewhere in a trade next season or in free agency next summer.
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Minnesota hopes to secure a pick in the top three during the draft lottery on May 20 in order to help keep Love in a T’Wolves uniform for years to come, according to Jerry Zogada of StarTribune.com:
Expect the Wolves’ search to wait until next week’s lottery — in the hope that the franchise finally might find some elusive luck and get a Top 3 pick that would change both Kevin Love’s feelings about the team’s future as well as its coaching prospects.
With all the rumors floating around about Love wanting to land with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency or via trade, many believe it is only a matter of time before that happens. Love has played at an MVP-caliber level over the last two seasons, but has been unable to turn things around in Minnesota due to the lack of talent around the three-time All-Star.
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Although the T’Wolves hope to secure a high draft pick in an effort to convince Love to stay in Minnesota, it still may be a long shot that the veteran forward remains with the team once he’s able to control his own fate in free agency.
One likely scenario in the NBA draft next month is the Lakers offering their draft pick in exchange for the perennial All-Star. It remains uncertain if the T’Wolves would be willing to make such a trade, but the team may ultimately end up losing him for nothing if they holdout until the summer of 2015 when Love can simply walk in free agency.
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