Kevin Love was angling for a 5-year deal and the Wolves downright refused it. I wonder how he feels now that they gave Pek a 5-year deal.
Its different, because Love wanted the 5 year max deal, which not only is more money, but it also means (I believe) Minnesota would not have been able to give any other players a 5 year max deal, if they were coming off their rookie contract, during the 5 years of Love's contract.
Of course, at this point, it doesn't look like anyone else will deserve that deal, so it may not have mattered. But its understandable why they wanted to maintain that level of flexibility.
Well what other rookie would they be wanting to offer the max to? Rubio? Essentially that's a slap to Love's face because they think Rubio is more deserving of a max contract than Love, despite Love having more of a track record at the time of the extension. This only compounds his frustration that it took so long (and an Al Jefferson trade) before Love truly started getting burn in Minnesota. I mean, I get all of that happened under a different management, but Love can't be too thrilled about his experience in Minny so far. The guy is 24 and I can't help but wonder whether he feels like he should be playing out his most productive years there.