NBA Rumors: Sacramento Kings frontrunners for Kevin Love deal?

With almost every team parsing their options in regards to a Kevin Love deal, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reports that the Sacramento Kings are the current frontrunners to land the all-Star forward.

Looking at the assets other teams possess, it’s hard to find truth in the tweet.

Their main asset in the Kevin Love chase is their number eight overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. Based on how mock drafts, this pick will net the Kings a player such as Aaron Gordon, Marcus Smart, Noah Vonleh, or Julius Randle, all who have been pinned as second-tier players in the upcoming draft.

But outside of that pick, the Kings lack the player assets Minnesota is most likely to covet if/when they decide to trade Love. With Demarcus Cousins listed as an untouchable, that leaves the likes of Ben McLemore, Rudy Gay (player option), Jason Thompson, and Isaiah Thomas (restricted free agent). Thomas, albeit a nice young player, would be redundant with Ricky Rubio in place as the supposed point guard of the future for Minnesota, McLemore hasn’t shown enough to be a key piece in a trade that covets a superstar, and if the Kings choose to include Gay in the trade, Gay could choose to decline his player option, becoming an unrestricted free agent in the process.

Even with the assets in hand, there are teams who have better assets. Cleveland could dangle the number one pick, Washington could offer Bradley Beal, Boston has a plethora of first-round picks for the next three years, and Chicago has a perfect balance of players and picks to offer Minnesota.

Unless the Wolves front office is big on McLemore being a franchise player, it’s just hard to see Sacramento as the frontrunner in the race for Love.