ESPN’s Ric Bucher believes trade talks between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors involving Kevin Love have broken down to the point of no return.
As Bucher put it on Twitter, the trade talks are “dead,” and any trade involving Love before Thursday’s NBA Draft is “unlikely.”
Sources: KLove deal to Warriors is dead. Love "unlikely" now to be dealt before draft.
— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) June 23, 2014
Bucher’s report includes the same word – unlikely – that Warriors general manager Bob Myers used to describe the chances of a deal being finalized before the draft.
“I will say if you asked me last year at this time would we be in a situation to grab an (Andre) Iguodala, I would have said the same thing,” Myers said at a press conference last week, as reported by Fox Sports. “I could get up from this and five minutes later my phone rings and it’s a deal that I hadn’t thought of, and all of a sudden you’re going down that path. Right now it’s unlikely.”
The breaking point, ESPN’s Chris Broussard says, is that Golden State doesn’t want to include sharpshooter Klay Thompson.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune isn’t as convinced that a deal is officially dead, and he’s not buying the Thompson report, either.
Don't believe chatter that Klay is issue holding up GS trade, or even KMartin. It's likely Barnes or Green as 3rd piece & how they get there
— Jerry Zgoda (@JerryZgoda) June 23, 2014
But Zgoda doesn’t think the Warriors are leading the race to get Love. He gives that nod to the Bulls, but only if Chicago includes the 16th and 19th picks in the draft. Power forward Taj Gibson and swingman Jimmy Butler have also been rumored as potential pieces to the puzzle.
The New York Daily News reported late Sunday that Chicago star point guard Derrick Rose would rather see the Bulls trade for Love now rather than try and sign Carmelo Anthony via free agency. Anthony opted out of the final year of his contract with the Knicks.
This story has featured a new twist or turn every day for the last week, so we’ll continue to monitor all developments.
