With all of that being said, I still think he is dealt by the time training camp opens. Here are the trade options as I see it, listed in my order of preference.
Houston Rockets. The Rockets desperately want to add a third star to their Dwight Howard/James Harden tandem. They appear to be focused on LaBron James, Carmelo Anthony & Chris Bosh at the moment, but if they fail on those fronts, which is appearing likely, the next best option for them would appear to be Kevin Love. To me, that's a very intriguing possibility because the Rockets have a lot of trade chips they could offer. First and foremost is Chandler Parsons, Parsons has greatly improved in his three years in the league and at 25 would be a nice building block for the Wolves. Including Parsons in any deal would call for a sign and trade as he's a restricted free agent and will probably want max money but I think it's definitely doable (keep in mind if Love leaves anyways and frees up cash for the Wolves to spend in 2015, they'd probably be looking to add someone of Parsons caliber anyways, if they could find someone willing to sign in Minnesota that is). Of course it would take more than Parsons to make a deal happen though, that's where the Rockets other pieces come into play, I would imagine that the Wolves would want Terrence Jones included to take Love's PF spot, the Rockets also own the Pelicans first round pick in next years draft (it's lottery protected but only top 3) and they just drafted Clint Capela who is a very promising young foreign player who the Wolves could stash overseas and hope to develop. That's 4 good young pieces, add them to Rubio, Dieng and LaVine and you've good a decent young foundation to build around. I would think that it's also possible that the Wolves could deal an unwanted contract or 2 to the Rockets as part of the deal (i.e. Kevin Martin, J.J. Barea, Alexy Shved, Chase Budinger, Corey Brewer). To me, if the Wolves feel they must deal Kevin Love or lose him for nothing, this would be my preferred option, so lets hope the Rockets lose out on James, Carmelo & Bosh.
Golden State Warriors. From everything that I have surmised, the Wolves would be willing to do a Kevin Love/Kevin Martin deal to the Warriors in exchange for Klay Thompson, David Lee and either Harrison Barnes or Draymond Green. While I don't like this deal as much as I'd like a Rockets deal, I could live with it, they'd get an potential All Star in Klay Thompson, a proven replacement for Kevin Love in David Lee and a still promising wing in either Harrison Barnes or Draymond Green. Problem being? The Warriors reportedly don't want to give up Klay Thompson and don't want to take back Kevin Martin's contract (although they'd have no problem dumping that horrible David Lee contract on the Wolves). The Warriors in the meantime, are reportedly offering up a deal that would include David Lee, Harrison Barnes and future draft pick straight up for Kevin Love. That is just ridiculous on so many levels that I don't feel it necessary to comment, Flip would be out of his mind to accept that deal and I highly suspect that Flip isn't out of his mind. Apparently, the Warriors feel they are dealing from a position of strength in these negotiations and feel the Wolves will eventually get desperate enough to make the deal. My thoughts on that? The Warriors are blowing a rare opportunity to bring in a bonafide superstar, that doesn't happen often, unless they budge, it's highly unlikely a deal between the Wolves & Warriors will take place.
Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were big in the chase for Love prior to the draft but seem to have moved their focus to Carmelo Anthony since free agency opened earlier in the week. So at this point, a Love to Chicago deal is in a holding pattern. Once Carmelo signs somewhere, the focus on Love could/should return, that would also include a chance of teaming Carmelo and Love together along with Derrick Rose in Chicago. I suspect that the best deal the Bulls would have to offer now for Love would center around Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott and either Jimmy Butler or Tony Snell in exchange for Love (and pieces?). This is really not a bad offer, Gibson is highly underrated, Mirotic & McDermott are loaded with potential and Bulter/Snell are promising young OG's. I'm sensing that Flip is not all that enamored with this potential deal though. Another positive to dealing with the Bulls, you would be dealing Love to an Eastern Conference team as opposed to strengthening another Western Conference contender.
Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs interest in adding Kevin Love is directly linked to LeBron James, if LeBron somehow manages to wind up back in Cleveland, you'd have to imagine they'd at least give some consideration to adding Love to their newly formed LeBron James-Kyrie Irving duo. The Cavs have the pieces to get a deal done too with Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson as bait. I would suspect that the Cavs would want to get a deal done without including Andrew Wiggins, but I'm guessing the Wolves would insist upon his inclusion in any deal. My guess is that it would take Wiggins and a couple others mentioned above plus maybe a draft pick for Love and at least one other piece from the Wolves (Martin, Barea, Shved, Budinger, Brewer). I could live with a deal like this, Wiggins' upside is off the charts and if they also got another couple young pieces along with him I suspect the Wolves would be happy. Of course, if LeBron doesn't find his way back to Cleveland there is no way in hell that Love would want to play there, so there's that.
I really haven't heard of too many other serious players in the Kevin Love Sweepstakes lately. I don't think the Celtics, Lakers or Suns have the pieces to get a deal done, and I highly doubt that Love would sign long term with Denver. I'm not sure who that leaves unless someone pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
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