Golden State Warriors rumors: David Lee overvalued in trade talks?
By Bryan Rose
Depending on who you ask the Golden State Warriors may have had a trade lined up to acquire Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves near the 2014 NBA Draft.
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Alas, no deal was made and it was said that both head coach Steve Kerr and special front office assistant (and NBA legend) Jerry West nixed the potential deal, mostly due to the inclusion of Klay Thompson. But was there another reason behind not pulling the trigger on the alleged deal? Was it a reluctance to give up power forward David Lee?
The former Florida star has found his name in trade rumors essentially since he joined the NBA with the New York Knicks and they haven’t ceased during his tenure with the Golden State Warriors. Yet, Lee remains on the roster and Nate Duncan believes the Warriors overvalue their forward far too much.
"If I may digress slightly, I think a big reason the Warriors will regret not trading Thompson for Love (assuming that opportunity really existed) is that they overvalued Lee. Getting out from under his contract would have been a big positive of that deal."
That contract still has two years (including the upcoming 2014-15 season) and nearly $30 million dollars left on it, though it’s difficult to know if Lee’s inclusion was that big of a hold on in the alleged trade.
Losing Lee wouldn’t have hurt the Golden State Warriors’ sub-par big man depth considering he would have been replaced by Kevin Love, though that boat has long sailed given Love is now a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.