NBA Rumors: Golden State Warriors don’t want Kevin Martin
The Golden State Warriors look like the favorites to land Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love.
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The Timberwolves would reportedly send Love and guard Kevin Martin and receive guard Klay Thompson, power forward David Lee and other assets. However, the Warriors do not want to trade Thompson.
That isn’t the only holdup.
According to Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News, the Warriors not only don’t want to part with Thompson but they do not want to take back Martin.
"Second big stumbling block: The Warriors have zero desire to take back expensive, no-defense shooting guard Kevin Martin in the deal, the source said.–Note: David Lee has to be part of this deal and both sides have generally agreed to this in the informal talks. He’s a productive offensive player and rebounder and Minnesota knows Lee’s salary must be included to make any deal with the Warriors work.–Also, the Warriors would have no need for another high-salary power forward if they received Love.–Lee is not the problem. He’s not a value-add to the deal, but he’s not considered a stumbling block, by either team.–The problem issues are everything else that would have to go into any Warriors-Timberwolves deal, and a lot of other things would have to be in there.I don’t know if the Martin element is non-negotiable for either side (Minnesota insisting and/or the Warriors blanching), but it sounds like, at the very least, the Warriors would need more enticement (beyond Love) to consider taking Martin back."
Martin averaged 19.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 43.0% from the field, 38.7% from beyond the arc and 89.1% from the free throw line.