Laker Rumors: Kevin Love Dissatisfied, Heading West To LA After This Season? Lakers Eye Love-Durant Combo?
LA Laker faithful were heartbroken this offseason when Kevin Love decided to take his talents to Cleveland to join in on LeBron James’ homecoming, but a new rumor has Love eyeing a departure from Cleveland after this season… and it’s said that Love is casting his gaze westward toward Laker Land.
Kobe, the Lakers, and the rest of Laker Nation are desperate for any silver linings for what has started out as a brutally disappointing season and, really, doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier any time soon.
Laker lottery pick Julius Randle is done for the season, after breaking his leg in his first NBA game. Meanwhile, Steve Nash’s career is likely done following a sudden bout of WowI’mOlditis.
After six games, the Lakers are just 1-5, and that’s a tough position in a Western Conference that saw the Dallas Mavericks win nearly 60 percent of their games last year and still come in eighth place.
The Lakers, in comparison, have already lost six percent of their total games for the season, leaving some wondering if it’s time to already time to tank.
Now, though, there are whispers that help might be on the way… just, you know, after this (likely abysmal) season is over.
Sam Smith of Bulls.com says that Cavaliers forward Kevin Love is seriously considering opting out of his contract with the Cavs at the end of this season. Love was traded to the Cavaliers from Minnesota this offseason, and he’s got an opt-out clause in his contract. If he chooses to exercise that clause, Smith says Love is interested in Los Angeles.
“But watch out for Love. Indications are he will seriously consider the opt out and has his eyes on a return to Los Angeles,” Smith writes, “where he attended college and where the Lakers have long had him on their free agent wish list.”
“Wish list,” there, might be a bit of an understatement. With the franchise circling the drain for the last two seasons, Love is less of a “wish list item” for the Lakers than a “desperate, sacrifice-anything longing.”
The Lakers only have $36 million on the payroll after this season – of which Kobe takes up $25 million, of course – so they could very likely put together a package that would be attractive to Love. Kobe could probably even find a way to play nice as he entered what’s expected to be his last season. Laker fans would likely see it as a true changing of the guard, as well as a continuation of the grand tradition of the Lakers stealing away big men from Minnesota.
If Love were to find his way to the Lakers after this season, it’s also possible that he wouldn’t be the only superstar Kevin on the squad. Los Angeles has also reportedly been eying a move to land the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant when he becomes eligible for free agency in 2016. A Love-Durant pairing would give the Lakers a powerful combination that would be hard for any other team in the league to match.
Of course, Love would risk the eternal ire of the perennially aggrieved Cleveland sports fan base were he to leave the Cavaliers after only one season. They burned LeBron’s jersey when he left for Miami, after all. Love, though, doesn’t have the home turf attachment to Ohio that LeBron does, so they would likely only burn him in effigy for about a week before moving on.
What’s the likelihood of a Love-fest for the Lakers? Of course, Kevin Love is unlikely to say anything over the course of this season, as that would just kick off the boos and jersey-burning earlier than necessary. Cleveland fans are anxious about a rocky start to the season, though, and the Cavs aren’t looking like the sure thing that they were on paper in the offseason. If Love is as committed to winning a championship as he said he was before, he’d likely be better off staying with the best player in the world in Ohio. The chance to be the headliner for one of the most storied franchises in sports, though, could prove too tempting to resist.
