After much anticipation, the NBA Draft has come and gone and it was a relatively quiet night for the Golden State Warriors. The Kevin Love rumors really got Warriors fans excited, but it was all premature. Some were hoping the Warriors would have acquired a draft pick today, but they weren’t mentioned much throughout the day. Now, the Warriors will have the rest of the summer to try and improve their roster, but acquiring Love could prove to be more difficult with each passing day.
Leading up to the draft it was reported that the Warriors and T-Wolves were still trying to work out a deal, but like all the previous rumors, nothing ever materialized. According to Sam Amick of USA Today Sports, talks between both teams have stalled:
For those who may have been wondering, I’m told there’s nothing cooking between Warriors and T-Wolves relating to Kevin Love at the moment.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 27, 2014
Both teams have been going back in forth in regards to Klay Thompson and Kevin Martin. The Warriors don’t want to part with Thompson and they also do not want to absorb Kevin Martin’s contract. With both teams standing their ground, a trade is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
The Warriors are going to have to be prepared in case they can’t land Love. They still want a stretch four and want to get rid of David Lee, so hopefully they are able to pursue other deals with multiple teams. After being the favorites to land the All-Star big man, the Warriors can only hope they have another opportunity at acquiring Love, but they must act fast.
“…but acquiring Love could prove to be more difficult with each passing day.”
Sure, but that ignores the rather simple logic that with almost all other suitors for Love using draft picks to sweeten their offers, and those draft picks now used by those teams either for themselves or in other trades (i.e. Denver), that narrows the field by almost everyone other than the Warriors and perhaps the Rockets, as their offers were not rumored to be primarily draft picks-based.
I honestly think the more likely scenario is pretty much the opposite of the statement I quoted. Although chances may not even be likely, overall, I still find it hard to believe that the Warriors chances do anything but increase with time, as the T-Wolves survey the landscape and see there aren’t better offers.