NBA Rumors: Knicks In Play for Love?

Check out the biggest rumors of the day in our NBA Rumor Round-Up. For more rumors and news, check out Basketball Insiders’ headlines, which are constantly being updated.

According to Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Knicks attempted to make a trade for Minnesota Timberwolves star forward Kevin love, offering Amare Stoudemire, Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Iman Shumpert.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, they never had much of a chance to acquire Love considering the assets they have to offer. With teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls offering players like Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, as reported by Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders, and Taj Gibson, it is hard to imagine the Knicks will have much of a chance of landing Love.

With Carmelo Anthony re-signing and the hiring of head coach Derek Fisher, who will implement the triangle offense, the Knicks have reason to be optimistic moving forward. Unfortunately they will likely have to move forward without Love, unless he hits free agency next offseason, where the Knicks will then be able to offer him a max contract. This seems unlikely, however, as Love is likely to opt into the final year of his deal if he is traded to another team, considering that whichever team ultimately trades for him will do so on an assurance from Love that he will stay long-term.

After almost three months since Mike D’Antoni resigned, the Los Angeles Lakers have made a formal offer to Byron Scott to take over as head coach.

Other names that have come up throughout the Lakers’ hiring process include Lionel Hollins, Kurt Rambis, George Karl, Alvin Gentry and Mike Dunleavy. However, Scott was always considered a favorite among these candidates, and it comes as little surprise that he was the final choice for the Lakers.

Scott, a former Lakers player, has prior coaching experience with the Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans and most recently with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Scott also spent all of last season as an analyst for the Lakers on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. However, the biggest plus-factor for Scott in this process is the fact that he has maintained a strong relationship with Kobe Bryant throughout the years after being teammates with Kobe in the 1996-97 NBA season.

Scott, who will inherit a team featuring newcomers in Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer, and returning players such as Nick Young, Jordan Hill, Xavier Henry and Wesley Johnson, will have the task of trying to get the Lakers to the playoffs, while lying the groundwork for life after Kobe.

A deal is not official as of today, but is expected to be finalized soon.

The NBA Players Association took a massive hit in the last labor negotiations against the NBA. Headed by former executive director Billy Hunter and former player’s association president Derek Fisher, the players gave major concessions to the owners, which has resulted in significant financial gains for the league’s 30 owners.

Since those negotiations, Hunter has been removed as executive director and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers has taken over as the union president. After a long period since the removal of Hunter, the union is ready to vote in a new a leader on Monday. Sacramento mayor, and former NBA player, Kevin Johnson will reportedly not be present at the meeting on Monday, however, after filling in as a leader for the union in the wake of Hunter’s removal and the Donald Sterling scandal.

While Johnson did an admirable job for the union, his role seems to have come to an end. Though he will not be present at Monday’s meeting, his contribution and stewardship in this tumultuous period for the union should not be forgotten. Johnson is also largely credited for keeping the Kings in Sacramento when other cities like Seattle and Anaheim were aggressively pursuing the franchise.