NBA Trade News: Klay Thompson Made Available in Kevin Love Sweepstakes
The trade talks are heating up and there is a lot of Love going around in the air.
The Golden State Warriors have made sweet shooting forward Klay Thompson available in trade discussion with the Minnesota Timberwolves which is currently shopping disgruntled All-Star forward Kevin Love.
Chris Broussard of ESPN reports that the framework of the deal is that the Warriors will have to send out David Lee, and Klay Thompson in exchange for Kevin Love, Kevin Martin and the 13th pick. The Warriors' odds of being the frontrunner in the Love sweepstakes just got better with the inclusion of one of the so-called Splash brothers.
Thompson who is scheduled to become a restricted free agent in 2015 is expected to welcome the transfer with the possibility of being able to increase his chances of getting a maximum contract. David Lee's two-year $30 million dollar salary has to be swallowed by the cap space of Minnesota to make salaries match.
This development does not however cement any deal in place for the freeing of Love.
"No deal is close," a league source involved in the trade talks told Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. "[Pieces] change all the time."
The Warriors are committed in behemoth salaries to Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry who are slated to make $10.6 million or more next season. This would signal that a maximum salary for Thompson would be hard to squeeze from the Warriors. The contracts of Iguodala, Curry and Bogut do not expire until after the 2016-17 season.
For the Warriors, assurances must be in place that Kevin Love will commit to the team long term which is a possibility given the rebounding behemoth has named earlier the Warriors as his top destinations. With the possible acquisition, the Warriors are expected to intensify competition in the already deep Western Conference and improve on their early exits in the previous two playoffs.