NBA Rumors: Lakers want to make Kevin Love their ‘franchise cornerstone’
For years, there has been speculation that Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love would eventually wind up with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Although Love went to high school in Oregon, he is a native of Santa Monica, California and attended college at UCLA, leading many to believe he would find his way back to the west coast at some point of his career.
Plenty of teams, including the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are expected to make a serious run at Love, but the Lakers will be squarely in the mix to land Love.
Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders explains that the Lakers want to make Love their “franchise cornerstone.”
"It’s a poorly kept secret that the Lakers would love to make Love their next franchise cornerstone. If his contract with the Timberwolves simply expires and he goes shopping, expect his home town Lakers to be his very first stop. Of course, the Lakers are not poised to win at this juncture, and they have work to do if they expect to field a team even as good as Minnesota’s two seasons from now. It’s entirely possible that the Lakers would fail to offer Love any better shot at winning big than he currently has with the Timberwolves. The death of Jerry Buss has left the Lakers in limbo, and the next generation of Lakers management has their work cut out for them in their quest to restore the Lakers’ mystique."
Love averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last season while shooting 45.7% from the field, 37.6% from three and 82.1% from the charity stripe.