NBA Trade News: Boston Celtics Continue Pursuit of Kevin Love

The Love-to-Boston rumour has already been beaten to death despite the NBA being in the early part of its offseason. Still, there are persistent speculations that indeed, the Boston Celtics are aggressively pursuing Minnesota Timberwolves franchise player, Kevin Love.

“The Boston Celtics continue to pursue a trade for Kevin Love, offering the No. 6 and No. 17 picks in this year's draft, along with future No. 1's and young players such as Jared Sullinger or Kelly Olynyk,” reports Chad Ford of ESPN.COM.

The rumour hit a major high when Love visited Massachusetts in late May when he also met with current Celtics star Rajon Rondo while touring the city.

The Minnesota camp has repeatedly denied that Love has demanded a trade or that they are willing to trade their franchise player anytime soon. However, all the leverage is with other teams as Love is expected to become a free agent after the 2014-2014 NBA season.

“Flip Saunders does not want to trade away Love, but he is beginning to realize that he would lose him for nothing next summer and this offer from the Celtics may be the best one he receives from any team,”
added Ford in his report.

Saunders also offered a challenge to Love just last week when GM and coach Flip Saunders told his franchise player that “he had no right to be frustrated.”

Other teams reportedly chasing Love are the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

Of those teams, only the Lakers have the cap space to sign him outright while the Rockets and Bulls have to clear salary to accommodate what is expected to be a maximum deal demanded by Love’s camp.

Love was statistically one of the best players in the league the past season logging in 26.1 points (career-high) and 12.5 rebounds. An effective stretch-big for his knack of hitting three-pointers consistently, Love’s talent has been wasted with the Wolves as Minnesota have failed to crack the postseason in Love’s six years with Minnesota.

Love-to-Boston could be a pure rumour for now but as draft day (June 26), other teams will be upping their offers for his services.