Celtics Notes: Love, Rondo, Trade Exception

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes that Kevin Love would like to play in Boston, but he also understands that the presence of Rajon Rondo isn’t enough to attract the power forward, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald hears. Instead, it seems Love may be casting his eye southward. An NBA GM told Bulpett that his players have been talking about the possibility that if the Wolves don’t trade Love, he’ll opt out of his contract next summer and sign with the Heat.

“I don’t know what to think anymore, but guys are saying there’s no way Love stays with Minnesota,” the GM said. “And if they don’t trade him, he’ll just opt out next summer and go play with LeBron [James] in Miami.”

That assumes, of course, that James would still be in Miami himself. Love has been a hot topic of conversation in Boston ever since his weekend getaway to the Hub a month ago, and there’s more on Love and an incumbent Celtics star amid the latest on the C’s:

• The Wolves haven’t given the Celtics the names of any players they’d like Boston to get to sweeten the Celtics’ offer for Love, Bulpett writes in the same piece. Minnesota reportedly isn’t attracted to any combination of assets the Celtics currently hold.
• Rajon Rondo isn’t certain if he’ll mimic Carmelo Anthony‘s multi-city free agency tour when it’s his turn to hit the market next summer, as he tells Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe. For now, Rondo seems committed to the Celtics. “Obviously everybody is waiting on [Anthony] and LeBron, so I’m not anxious at all,” Rondo said. “I have a lot going on here. I can only worry about what I can control — that’s myself and my game. Obviously, nothing’s happened, but I still trust Danny [Ainge]. Danny wants to win, so we’ll make something happen.”
• Regardless of whether they can hook Love, the C’s will hold off on trading Rondo unless they receive an overwhelming offer, Bulpett hears.
• The Celtics deftly used every bit, and then some, of the $10,275,136 trade exception they had left over from last summer’s Nets trade to facilitate their three-way trade with the Nets and Cavs that became official this morning. The salaries for Marcus Thornton and Tyler Zeller, the players headed to Boston, total $10,278,760, but the NBA allows teams to exceed their trade exceptions by up to $100K to get deals done.