Kevin Love calls Timberwolves ‘they’

Has Kevin Love already moved on from the Minnesota Timberwolves? We hate reading too much into one tiny piece of an interview, but it was hard not to take note when Love referred to his current team as “they” on Wednesday.

When Aja Dang of FOX Sports asked Love about the future of the Timberwolves under Flip Saunders, the star forward responded like he is already a member of another team.

“If they’re healthy, they can do a lot of damage,” Love said. “With Flip as the coach — kinda been there, done that, in the Eastern Conference and in the Western Conference, having seen and really played all sides in the basketball world, I think he’s going to do a great job.”

That is pretty telling. You can argue that it was simply a slip of the tongue, and that might be true. But I highly doubt Love would be referring to the team he has spent the first six seasons of his career with as “they” if he wasn’t planning on being dealt.

For what it’s worth, Love also said he has a great relationship with Saunders when asked about Flip saying Love has no reason to be frustrated with the direction of the T-Wolves.

“What some people don’t know is that Flip and I have a great relationship, and we’ve been constantly speaking about my situation,” Love said. “Flip is going to be a tremendous coach again for the Timberwolves; he did a great job last year with our team, even throughout all the injuries and different things that we had.

“But that’s the way of Flip of getting people motivated, whether it’s me or people you don’t even know about. Am I happy he said those things? I think he’s supposed to come out and say that because it’s a team game, not about one singular player.”

There are too many rumors swirling around to have a solid idea of where Love is going to be traded, but it would be a shock if he is not dealt. The Timberwolves would simply be taking too much of a risk by keeping him.