It has now been 12 years since the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the three-team deal made back in 2014, Minnesota received Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins, and a trade exception from Cleveland. Wiggins had been the first overall pick a couple of months before the deal, while Bennett was the first overall selection in 2013.
Apparently, the Timberwolves had their eyes on an all-time NBA sharpshooter as a return for Love. Maybe they would have acquired him if not for an NBA legend.
On the most recent episode of The Hoop Collective, the crew talked about crazy NBA trades that never happened. On the topic of Love, Windhorst said:
“Jerry West, who was an advisor...he threatened to resign as advisor of the Warriors if the Warriors traded Klay Thompson for Kevin Love. Supposedly, that’s a player Flip Saunders wanted.”
Love paired with Steph Curry? Thompson teaming up with Karl-Anthony Towns, who was drafted in 2015? It certainly would have been interesting to see how things would have worked out for all four of those players.
Thompson became a star shortly after Love was traded
Back in the 2014 offseason, Love was 25 years old and six years into his NBA career. Thompson had completed three years and was 24.
The Warriors may have had to attach draft capital if a trade was made involving those two players, as Love was seen as the better player at the time. The three-time All-Star with Minnesota was two years into a four-year, $60.8 million rookie-scale extension. Thompson would sign his rookie-scale extension—four years, $69 million—just months after Love was traded to the Cavaliers.
Of course, keeping Thompson proved wise for the Warriors. He and the team won the title in 2015. They later went on to win three more titles in 2017, 2018, and 2022.
Instead of having Thompson, the Wolves saw Wiggins win Rookie of the Year, but he mostly put up empty scoring numbers on bad teams. Ironically, he became a better, more efficient player once he was traded to Golden State to play alongside Klay. Bennett lasted just four years in the NBA and never came close to panning out after being the No. 1 overall draft pick.
Love, meanwhile, got to play in Cleveland with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The trio would help guide the Cavs to a championship in 2016.
Timberwolves' history would have been much different with Thompson
At the time of the Love trade to Cleveland, Thompson wasn’t quite viewed in the same light as he would be viewed over the next decade. He had yet to make an All-Star team and hadn’t yet won a title with Golden State.
What was clear was that Thompson could become one of the game’s best shooters. In each of his first three years, he made more than 40 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Now, I mentioned Thompson potentially being teammates with Towns, but that probably wouldn’t have happened. The 2014–15 Timberwolves finished 16–66 and won the draft lottery. Had they rostered Thompson, they most likely wouldn’t have had the worst record in the NBA.
It’s hard to say how Minnesota would have fared with Thompson. Yes, acquiring him would have been better than what the Wolves actually got for Love, but it would potentially have cost them Towns—and who knows, maybe eventually Anthony Edwards as well?
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