Kevin Love rumors: Love wants to play for Golden State Warriors to be closer to home?
Although the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are reportedly offering the number one overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, swingman Andrew Wiggins, the number one overall pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, forward Anthony Bennett and an additional first round pick, seem like the current favorites to land Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love in a trade, the team that has been in the mix to acquire Love for the better part of two months is the Golden State Warriors.
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The debate between which player the Cavaliers should target between Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson and Wiggins has raged on, but really, the most important question is where Love prefers to be. Since he become an unrestricted agent after the 2014-2015 season, he holds all of the cards.
Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders believes the chance to play friend Stephen Curry and closer to home in California could have Love favoring the Warriors over the Cavaliers.
"It really boils down to what Kevin finds most important. GS offers him a chance to play with a friend (Curry), highly compatible surrounding talent, and closer to the comforts of home. For anyone that says “playing close to home” doesn’t matter…take a look at what just happened in Northeast Ohio and get back to me. They’d be very competitive in a strong WC, but nothing is guaranteed. Obviously, CLE offers the chance to play alongside LeBron and Kyrie and what I would anticipate being an easier path to the Finals. For the record, the EC should be better next year, but probably still won’t be on par with the WC. If you ask me, he really couldn’t go wrong either way."
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 last season.