There seems to be a new story every day about how demoralizing the season is getting for Timberwolves star Kevin Love.
Love was held to 14 points and nine rebounds in a 114-99 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, and after the game he admitted that he’s exhausted.
“They did a good job, but it was really just me being exhausted,” Love said of the Nets holding him in check, according to the Star Tribune. “I couldn’t find any energy in the second half. That was really it. They did a good job, but I don’t know…”
Love said he was exhausted, but he posted a triple-double without playing in the fourth quarter of Minnesota’s win over the Lakers on Friday. Was it a one-game fatigue or has the season simply worn him out?
Love looked extremely demoralized following a recent loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Deadspin called him a “broken man.”
Perhaps the most tiring part of Love’s season has been the constant stream of rumors about where he’ll be playing in 2015, when he’ll have the option of opting out of his final year under contract with the Wolves.
The popular opinion has been that Love could head to New York or Los Angeles in 2015. The latest report came Saturday from ESPN, adding Chicago to the mix of big city destinations.
A source familiar with Love’s thinking told ESPNLosAngeles.com that it’s not just L.A. that is appealing to Love; he’s enamored with the idea of being “big time in a big city,” and that list of potential places he’d seek includes New York and Chicago, as well.
On Friday, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Lakers will try to use their 2014 lottery pick to trade for Love.
“The suggestion is already in circulation that the Lakers will attempt to use their forthcoming high lottery pick in June to assemble the sort of trade package that finally convinces the Wolves to part with Love and end the uncertainty that hangs over this franchise even before the 25-year-old enters the final year of his contract,” Stein wrote. “Yet there is just as much defiance emanating from Minnesota, as we speak, about the Wolves’ ability to keep Love in town.”
With ten games to go, including tonight’s home game against the Clippers, the rumors are only going to intensify.
