The ongoing reports surrounding Kevin Love and where the trade talks between the Timberwolves and others stand seemed relatively harmless, especially in a time when the NBA news cycle is so traditionally slow.
But there’s a reality that Love is being heavily shopped, at least to the Cavaliers and the Bulls. And due to the uncertainty surrounding where his NBA future will unfold, Love has decided that playing for USA Basketball this summer would simply be too much of a risk.
From Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press:Kevin Love is pulling out of Team USA because of uncertainty surrounding his status with Wolves.
League sources told AP of Love’s decision to pull out of World Cup this morning. Just can’t risk injury right now.
USA Basketball made it official shortly after the initial report.
USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo today announced that Kevin Love(Minnesota Timberwolves) has informed USA Basketball that because of his current status he will be unavailable to participate with the USA National Team this summer. The U.S. team is scheduled to begin its 2014 preparations for the FIBA Basketball World Cup with a training camp July 28-Aug. 1 in Las Vegas. USA Basketball will utilize the Las Vegas training camp to identify players for this summer’s USA World Cup Team.
“The fact is we can only look to the players we have available. Our job is to get the job done with our very, very deep roster, and we’re anxious to get things started,” said Colangelo.
This is a big loss for USA Basketball this summer, mainly because of how excited the organization was when Love (along with Kevin Durant) formally announced their intentions to play in the World Championships at mini-camp in Las Vegas last summer.
But his unresolved trade from the Timberwolves, which more than likely won’t be able to be completed for at least 30 more days, has forced a change of plans.