My Honest Prediction

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

Flip doesn't want to blow it up. He's a player or two away and he knows it. Here is my honest (non-homer) opinion of what is going to go down with Kevin Love and the rest of the team.

1. Flip makes a few moves this summer to fix the team, and doesn't trade Love before the season

2. Coming up to the deadline, the Wolves are firmly in the playoffs. Flip takes his chances and doesn't trade Love.

3. Wolves exit first or second round, but all of Love's preferred destinations are capped out, in the cellar, or both. Ricky convinces him to not take his ETO and give it one more year.

4. Minnesota makes the playoffs again, but gets knocked out in the second round. The team improved quite a bit, but they were never a serious threat to win it all.

This brings us to the summer of 2016. Kevin Love has now been to the playoffs twice, but isn't satisfied. He's an unrestricted free agent. Around this time, a certain team down in LA have just had the face of their franchise play out his last year and retire. Kobe Bryant's departure leaves a $25 million hole on the payroll. There's a tall, lanky kid from D.C. that is also fed up with not winning a title and wants a change of scenery. This brings us to prediction number 5.

5. Kevin Love and Kevin Durant sign max contracts with the Lakers, joining one of Exum/Embiid/Randle to form the next powerful team in Los Angeles. An aging LeBron is also a FA that year if he doesn't take his ETO. Maybe he decides to join them.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't see Love not opting out. The smart business decision is to get paid that max contract as soon as possible. The question will be if it's with Minnesota or someone else.

*I also don't see Durant leaving OKC ever.

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

Playing out his option year would only cost him a few million, and that would be made up in his next contract since the cap would be higher. It's unlikely, but it's not without precedence. Chris Paul was going to opt out and leave LA, but they convinced him not to. He ended up staying long term after they had a good season.

As for Durant, he already said a few weeks ago that maybe OKC isn't the place for him. If they haven't won a title by the time his contract is up, I think he's gone.

[mjs34]

Playing out his option year would only cost him a few million, and that would be made up in his next contract since the cap would be higher. It's unlikely, but it's not without precedence. Chris Paul was going to opt out and leave LA, but they convinced him not to. He ended up staying long term after they had a good season.

As for Durant, he already said a few weeks ago that maybe OKC isn't the place for him. If they haven't won a title by the time his contract is up, I think he's gone.

CP waived his opt out to get the deal to go through. The Clippers wouldn't do it without that stipulation. Love could make that same stipulation in a trade, but it would be silly to do it if he is staying with Minny. The additional cap is unlikely to be a benefit. He gets 7.5% raises, which means the cap would have to go up around 5 mil in the next season to make a difference. It comes down to risking injury for the season versus getting one extra year because you waited one more season to re-sign.