Kevin Love is not happy with the Minnesota Timberwolves and seems to be at least partially regretting signing a four-year extension back in January.
The T-Wolves had the option of giving Love their designated five-year deal, but instead offered him a four-year deal with a player option to opt out after the third year. The team was saving their max deal for point guard Ricky Rubio.
Love spoke to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports about his dissatisfaction with the Timberwolves‘ front office, and how he thinks they disrespected him.
“I don’t know who labels people stars, but even [T-Wolves owner] Glen Taylor said, ‘I don’t think Kevin Love is a star, because he hasn’t led us to the playoffs,'” Love told Wojnarowski. “I mean, it’s not like I had much support out there. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
There are a number of things, beyond just comments made by Taylor and the four-year offer, that Love is upset about. Minnesota was dubious of how Love broke his hand doing knuckle pushups, which forced him to miss the first four weeks of the season. Love also isn’t happy with the turnover on the roster, questioning whether the ‘Wolves actually have a plan. Most importantly, he’s not happy with the results the team has had every year he’s been in Minnesota.
Fortunately for Love, even though he didn’t get the max contract he wanted, he did get an opt out after the third year. Unfortunately, he’s only in the first year of his extension, so he’ll have to wait until 2015 to find a new team if the issues he sees haven’t been cleared up. Minnesota has time to mend the wounds, but Love seems like he may be one to hold a grudge.
“I have a very, very good memory, and I always remember the people who have done right by me, and the people who have done wrong by me,” Love said. “It will be embedded in my brain, and something I won’t forget about. There’s no telling what will happen. I would love to compete for a championship in Minnesota, but …”
One the one hand, Love likes his coach Rick Adelman, and he’s happy to play with Rubio. On the other, the center does wonder why Minnesota felt the need to trade away fellow big man Al Jefferson.
“We should’ve at least tried it, especially with the way things were going,” Love said. “I was beginning to figure things out in my second season. Everybody knew what Al was capable of, and is still capable of. It was definitely worth the risk of seeing what would happen. If it didn’t work, then go another way. But we never tried it.”
Love is averaging 21.2 points this season with 14.2 rebounds. Last season, he had 26 points per game with 13.3 rebounds while earning All-NBA second team honors.
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