Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has revealed that his team would have had their biggest season next year had Kevin Love not moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Love's long-debated future was resolved recently when he moved to the Cavs in a four-player trade deal, which saw Thaddeus Young, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett move to Minnesota.
"I spoke the truth when I said if Kevin [Love] would stay here then we would have the best season," said Taylor, according to ESPN.
"Inside I knew Kevin wasn't giving us that alternative even though it's what I wanted. So now you have the thing where Kevin kind of said, 'trade me or you're going to pay the fine next year if you don't trade me.' I think once we got going on that, we had about four teams that came to us with significant offers.
"But this one truly had the biggest upside. Flip [Saunders] pushed it and negotiated it the best he could so I'm really happy with it."
The new NBA season will get underway on October 28, as the San Antonio Spurs welcome the Dallas Mavericks.
Christopher Dodd
