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Flip Saunders: Wolves were willing to keep Love until Wiggins became available

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes, fate has a scenario in the cards that works out well for everyone.

The basketball gods smiled on the Cleveland Cavaliers at the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery, landing them their third No. 1 pick in four seasons. Andrew Wiggins was a nice prize, but when LeBron James decided to come home, the pingpong balls suddenly became the post facto fortune of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Wolves employed Kevin Love at the time, and while Love wanted out, the Wolves were adamant they were comfortable keeping him into the final year of his deal, risking he would leave as an unrestricted free agent in 2015. Once the Cavs became willing to move Wiggins, the deal came together rather quickly.

Even looking back, Wolves president and head coach Flip Saunders maintains he would have held on to Love had things not worked out as they did. As he told Zach Lowe of Grantland:

Two years ago, when we were fighting for the eighth spot, we had a feeling that we just were who we were - that we were not going to ever move up much. That started the situation with Kevin.

But you say luck, and maybe I say patience. I didn't have a problem keeping Kevin into the final year of his deal and coaching him. Guys just don't turn down the extra year and $30 million. Even though he maybe wanted to leave, I thought we still had an opportunity to re-sign him. When you are patient, you can say, 'This is what we need to get something done, and if we don't get it, we're keeping him.'

Then things kind of fell into place, with LeBron going to Cleveland and (Andrew) Wiggins becoming available. That's when you can say 'lucky.'

Yeah, you've told me before you were really willing to keep Kevin into that final year. That doesn't seem like bluster.

No, it wasn't. People thought it was. Thoughts might have changed when I announced I would coach. Because what coach wouldn't want to coach a guy who was All-NBA? Coaches want to win that night. I'm in a unique situation, because as the coach, I live in the present, but as the GM, I look into the future. I try to steer both courses. But people believed I would coach the guy.

It would have been quite the gamble by Saunders, but he would have had all season to wait for his price for Love, and then could have tried to sign-and-trade him in the offseason if he wouldn't re-sign.

This seems to have worked out for all involved. Wiggins looks like a terrific prospect, the Wolves took a step back and landed Karl-Anthony Towns with the 2015 No. 1 pick, and the Cavs were able to re-sign Love after narrowly missing an NBA championship with the sharpshooter on the bench. The trade helped set the Wolves up for a bright future and helped set the Cavs up for a contending present.

Still, the Wolves probably regret forcing their own hand by declining to give Love a five-year extension in 2012, opting instead to give him four years and upsetting him in the process.

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