NBA Rumors: Kevin Love expected to finalize buyout with Utah Jazz, targeting two potential destinations

Just a few weeks after news broke that Kevin Love had been traded from the Miami Heat to the Utah Jazz, reports indicate that the veteran center is looking to leave his new team and has two preferred destinations in mind within the NBA.

Love was unexpectedly included in a three-team deal between the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers, and Utah Jazz in early July. In that move, John Collins was sent to LA and Norman Powell to Miami, while Kyle Anderson joined Love in heading to Utah.

During a live stream for Bleacher Report, NBA insider Jake Fischer made it clear that Love is expected to agree to a buyout with the Jazz in the near future, which would free him up to sign with another team, although it remains uncertain exactly when that will happen.

“Pretty much all these buyouts this summer have only been determined and finalized when the team gives an agent permission to have conversations with other teams,” the reporter clarified. “And the buyout doesn’t typically really get figured out until that next situation is fully determined.”

Kevin Love and LeBron James won the NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.

Fischer then put himself in the 36-year-old center’s shoes and analyzed the scenario. “If you’re Kevin Love, if you’re giving up a guaranteed situation, you know, veteran minimum salary, I don’t think you’re going to sign the check or sign the paperwork to give up guaranteed millions of dollars until you have your next situation lined up,” Jake speculated.

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Given this scenario, it’s likely we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the situation between Love and the Utah Jazz to be resolved. But that hasn’t stopped speculation about the 2016 NBA champion’s future from already gaining traction.

Having spent time with high-profile teams—most notably alongside LeBron James in Cleveland and later with the Miami Heat—the center doesn’t seem eager to join a lower-profile organization. That preference may also extend to the city where he chooses to live next.

“With Kevin Love, to my understanding, he really only wants to be in the big glamour markets,” Jake Fischer explained during the same broadcast. “I do think it would mostly be something along the lines of Kevin Love going to a New York or a Los Angeles type of situation. So, we’ll see if that can materialize for him.”

If those are indeed Love’s preferred destinations, the options are fairly limited. In New York, it would be either the Knicks or the Brooklyn Nets, while in LA, the choices would be the Lakers or the Clippers.

Three of those four teams appear to be gearing up for serious contention in the upcoming NBA season, making them attractive landing spots for Kevin. However, at the same time, they don’t seem to have an urgent need for a player with Love’s particular skill set.