Kevin Love Lobbying to Join the Los Angeles Lakers?

By: Stephen Patterson

It seems Kevin Love might be lobbying for a return to the "City of Angels", Los Angeles, where he starred at UCLA during his one season playing college college basketball before turning pro.

In a recent interview with SLAM Magazine, Love said he thinks the Lakers need to make some moves when he was asked what has stood out to him to him during these playoffs.

His exact response to the question: "Yeah. As everyone can see, the Lakers need to make moves."

While he obviously isn't shouting "Hey, send me to L.A.!" at David Kahn (as far as I know anyway), it has been rumored in the past that K-Love would love to be back in Los Angeles and would also relish the opportunity to play alongside Kobe Bryant.

With Pau Gasol's days as a Laker likely numbered, a trade involving these two isn't totally out of the question, although it would be extremely difficult at this point considering the massive difference between the two players contracts ($18.7 million for Gasol compared to only $4.6 million for Love in the 2011-12 season).

Although making the money match up would be extremely tough for the Lakers and Timberwolves, Gasol might prefer Minnesota over many other potential destinations if he is traded because it would allow him to play with Ricky Rubio, who he has played alongside in the past with the Spanish national team and spoken highly of on multiple occasions.

Love signed a four-year, $60 million dollar contract extension with the Wolves back in January so the team is under no pressure to trade him, unless he has privately informed them he no longer wishes to play for them, which would seem out of character for him.

However, with his pay scheduled to increase to around $15 million next season (which much closer to Gasol's deal) under his extension, it is still very possible these two All-Stars could be swapping teams.

Would a lime-up of Steve Blake, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Kevin Love, and Andrew Bynum be good enough to carry the Lakers to a championship in the next season or two? It's very possible.

It's just as possible, however, that Metta World Peace and/or Andrew Bynum may also find themselves playing for different franchises for the 2012-13 season as it is Gasol is moved for K-Love, or anyone else for that matter.

The only thing I know for certain is that I totally agree with Kevin Love on this topic: The Lakers definitely need to make some moves this summer, especially if they want to pick up another championship while Kobe is still performing at an All-Star level.