Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 11:05 am  |  92 responses

Kevin Love Demanding a Contract Extension By January 15th?


According to the NY Post, things could get dicey in Minny should the Timberwolves fail to offer Kevin Love a lucrative contract extension by the middle of the month: “According to the messenger, All-Star Kevin Love has not been offered an extension. Think the double-double emperor’s feelings are bruised? Think agent Jeff Schwartz might be putting the pressure on GM David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor to make a proposal pronto? You got that right; according to my source, if one isn’t submitted by Jan. 15, 10 days before the league deadline to enrich players in Love’s position (Russell Westbrook is another), then don’t bother. Supposedly, the restricted free agent — back for season four in superior shape and with amplified area-code accuracy — then will refuse to re-sign this summer or, if things are prolonged, the one after. Obviously, Kahn and Taylor are not going to let that happen. Obviously, they’re not going to bungle this million dollar baby. Obviously, they’re going to do the right thing. Come on, this is easy. After a mortifying four-year term, the Timberwolves have assembled a cluster of legitimate playoff pieces. Think management is going to mess this up?”

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  • T-Money

    “I want to get out of here but if you throw max money at me, we’re cool.”

  • dfrance21

    I wonder if this is coming from Love or his agent. Why not just focus on basketball and deal with the contract stuff when the season ends? SOMEBODY is going to give him max money so why stress it? It’s not like he really wants to stay in Minny and wants to make sure they take care of him.

  • dfrance21

    Why is my comment awaiting moderation?

  • tomtom

    Good for him, he deserves a decent extension and a lot of other teams would give it up without hesitation.

  • Zack

    We’ll give them Chris Bosh for K-Love.

  • T-Money

    Dfrance21: or is trying to make sure that somebody is not Minny by giving ultimatums.

  • JEr dawg

    This is no brained decision to lock Kevin in Minny’s future, but Kahn is a no-brain fool for drafting 2 point guards before. He Could’ve had that explosive wing player, not named Wes Johnson, in the fold. DeRozen is already playing in cold Toronto and paying heavy taxes. He would have made huge difference.

  • http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_history.html Allenp

    T-Money
    I told Myles Brown the other day that the only way Love signs in Minnesota is for the absolute max offer. No saving money to help the team, he wants the max. And, I think that’s the ONLY reason he re-signs with them.
    If they offer him a big contract that’s less than max, I believe he will walk. Even if it is more than he could get from another team. He wants to be maxed out, period. That’s his focus.
    Myles disagrees. We shall see.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    He’s gettin a max deal.

  • MUBWAR

    actually JEr dawg Derozan is paying more taxes than any american basketball player. in canada its between 15 and 21% for people like me and 35 to 45% to anyone making above 2m a year

  • http://theurbangriot.com The NUPE

    At least it appears he’s o.k. with staying in a small market and not ‘demanding’ a trade to go to the Nets or any other ‘big market’ team or a team with another superstar. I hope they give him his max deal and move on without all the melo-drama.

  • Bawse

    Wait what is it again that makes Love undipensable? They cannot lose 60 games a season without his help?

  • Bawse

    Sorry undispensable.

  • T-Money

    The NUPE: everybodyre-ups on their rookie deal. Melo did, Bron did, Bosh did, CP3 did.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com Enigmatic

    Bawse – wrong again, it’s indispensable LOL but we knew what you meant and my spelling sucks on here too thanks to my iPhone and me typing too fast.
    Love is balling right now man.
    25, 15 and 2. He keeps that up, I mean, when’s the last time someone averaged 25 and 15? Kareem in ’75? Can’t find anyone doing it since.
    They need to max him out. Beasley is so expendable it’s not even funny but Love has to stay.

  • Startown

    They have the money to sign Love, it will get done. He wants to stay here and play with Rubio, but he is very smart and knows that the fans in Minnesota are finall seeing some wins, and they (management) does not want this to be a distraction. He is a great player and they will pay him.

    To JER who posted that we (the Wolves) should have drafted DeRozen I cannot agree more. This franchise would be sitting SO good, if we picked DeRozen or Curry instead of Johnny Flynn? Another big mistake was not taking Blair from San Antonio or DeAndre Jordan in the 2nd round when we had extra picks.

    I remember Jordan sitting on the board and telling my son that we should pick no-brainer, worst case he is a long time backup, shi* I think he leads the league in blocks! I mean c’mon who has had more picks than the Wolves,

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Check me if I’m wrong…but he’s a restricted free agent right? So can’t Minny match any offer sheet he signs? Either way, Love isn’t leaving the Wolves.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Enigmatic, Moses did it at least 4 times in the late 70s-early 80s.

  • shuref00t

    I’ll reignite the old trade rumors of K-Love going to the Lakers for Pau Gasol. Makes too much sense with Love returning to his hometown, and Pau playing with his fellow Spaniard, Rubio. After the Lakers fail to acquire Dwight Howard, they’ll certainly go after another premier big man. Lakers get a young PF/C they can rebuild around after the Kobe era, and the T-Wolves get an experience vet they need. And Kahn is crazy enough to pull this deal off too.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    My bad, 5 times. Damn…Moses was a beast.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I read Matic’s comment about KAJ and started to respond before I read what followed, good thing I didn’t press submit. Moses was such a monster.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com Enigmatic

    Hold up now.
    Y’all gonna hate me for this…
    Yes, Moses was a beast but if you really REALLY wanna be technical about it, he never did it.
    24.8 and 17.6 in 79.
    25.8 and 14.5 in 80.
    27.8 and 14.8 in 81.
    31.1 and 14.7 in 82.
    24.5 and 15.3 in 83.
    What I asked was when was the last time anyone averages 25 and 15.
    Meaning 24-plus and 15-plus.
    In the grand scheme of things yeah it’s pretty much the same f*cking thing, but I seen Malones numbers and wanted to know when was the last time someone averaged actually 25 plus and 15 plus for a season.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com Enigmatic

    *25 plus and 15 plus.
    Typing all my comments exclusively on iPhone now.
    Sucks.

  • Startown

    I realize this is not going to happen, but if Dwight Howard would sign with the Wolves they would be a force. Rubio, Wes Johnson, D Williams, Love, Howard and well, I guess Beasley

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Man I thought Malone did it atleast 3 times between 79 & 83.

  • http://dodgers.com Joey E.

    love wont average that over a full season. i see a repeat of last year though

  • ARL30

    @dfrance21: I don’t blame him for seeking max money asap. What if he tears his ACL on January 16th? There won’t be any max contract offers after that. Besides, this horrible organization run by a horrible GM should be grateful that a superstar wants a long-term deal to stay in this small market.

  • tomtom

    Love the @enigmatic research. And for anyone who doesn’t think that love is inundispencenable, have you seen this dude play!? :-o

  • http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_history.html Allenp

    Is he a franchise player? That’s what you have to ask when you’re talking about maxing a dude, right?

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Enigmatic, ain’t no penny pinching going on around here. everything gets rounded up.

  • JoeMaMa

    Kahn has put together an exciting young team, full of promise: Derrick Williams, Love, Rubio, Beasley…shoot, even Ellington, Randolph, and Johnson are good young players. Alot of fans would like to see this kind of team coming from their city. I’ve never been an anti-Kahn guy. Not so much pro-Kahn either. But if you’re a T-Wolves fan….have fun. Oh, and Love deserves the max. 15 boards alone is $12mil/year, easy. Plus the points, plus the 3s? AND THE OUTLET PASSES?!?

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Not when you’re in Minnesota.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    that was in response to Allen.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    Could love be the best 4 in the league? Seriously, he can shoot from close or 3 point range, rebound and play defense. They say Blake is the best 4 in the league, but he doesn’t even have that good a jumpshot. Maybe is Love was a monster with the dunks, he’d get more respect…

  • MikeC.

    @Allenp – I was thinking the same thing. There are two reasons to max a guy out. Winning championships and selling tickets/merhandise. Teams should pay max dollars to guys like Wade, Kobe, Dirk, etc. Those guys lead teams deep into the playoffs and provide a return on the investment. Other guys don’t win much, but put fans in seats and sell merch. The only player I can think of right now is Iverson. Dwight might be on his way to joining that club. Blake Griffin was about to join that club until CP3 parachuted into Lob City. Is Kevin Love going to lead the Wolves deep into the playoffs? Does he sell a ton of merchandise and rally the city around him? So far, ‘no’ on both counts. I don’t think he’s a max guy. Second guy on a great team? Sure. Franchise altering talent? Nope.

  • http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_history.html Allenp

    I agree with that breakdown completely Mike C.
    And O, who said Blake was the best in the League? Nobody with sense.

  • Do Work

    I don’t understand the arguments over whether k-love is a franchise player. He averaged 20 and 15 last year and he’s up to 25 now this year. He’s as consistent as anybody in the league night in and night out and is probably the best rebounder in the league. If minnesota thought kg was a franchise player when they gave him that max deal then there should be no question at all about if love deserves the same. He’s putting up better numbers than garnett was. I’ve watched Kevin Mchale tear this team down with his illegal joe smith signing, make terrible decisions with draft picks and trades and then coach the team into an even worse position but if management somehow screws this up, it will be the last straw for me as a wolves fan.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Has to be either Dirk or Gasol.

  • dma

    for reals. if a guy like tyson chandler, a career 8 points 9 rebounds guy gets $60 mil over 4 years, there’s no reason why Love doesn’t get the max.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    I personally think Love is better than Blake. Right now.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    You can have 2 max guys on the same team. Is Amar’e a max guy? Is Joe Johnson a max guy? The idea that they should fit in one of those two categories would be great if there were only 8 teams in the league. But with 30 teams, in a place like Minnesota, if you can get a top 10 player in the league you do it. There is no logic in sitting around with your fingers crossed hoping you get a franchise player. You earn money by selling tickets. You sell tickets by winning. Might as well use the money in your salary cap that you are FORCED to spend regardless on overpaying one really good player, rather than splitting that money between 4 really mediocre players. (See Phoenix, Amar’e – Josh Childress, Jared Dudley, Hakim Warrick – for a glaring example).

  • Myles Brown

    Mike C gets it.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    @ O – K-Love plays defense? @ Do Work – KG put up offensive numbers while being one of the best defensive players in the league. K-Love’s defense is nonexistant.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    @shuref00t K Love is from Portland, OR not Los Angeles

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    ^ not me.

  • ponder

    ^it was me IDK why it put in all your info when I went to comment and I didn’t double check. sorry my bad

  • http://dsjfklfl.com Jukai

    Awesome on Enigmatic with the 25/15 logic.
    I’m kind of torn on this one. On one hand, Mike C’s logic is true to the T. On the other hand, so is NBK’s: is Minny going to get a guy who can put butts in the seat or take them deep to a championship run? Are we crossing our fingers hoping for the next Garnett? I don’t know.
    What I do know is, they should be working with him right now. Not giving him an offer is a bad way to start the deal.

  • startown

    Wayno: K Love defense is non-existant??… watch the games. Look at his +/- rating? He is fourth in the NBA in efficiency. Defensive rebounds count as “defense” not sure why people don’t get that?

  • http://dodgers.com Joey E.

    fake nbk: he may be “from” oregon, but guess where he lives in the offseason bro? LA. obviously went to UCLA as well

  • Harlem_World

    It’s a tough one. His body of work doesn’t convince me he’s a max guy yet. Numbers – yes he got numbers, but his team has been among the worst in the league. Mad respect for what he does out there, but I don’t see him as great defender by any means. Odom said it best, he’s like a new age Laimbeer. He can rebound and shoot. For anyone who’s played the 4, Love’s skill set is abnormal – but the million dollar question is, does his style lead you to a chip as the franchise player?

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