Kevin Love Speaks Out About LA Lakers Trade And Free Agent Rumors

With all the talk of trouble in Ohio's version of paradise as the Cleveland Cavalier trifecta of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving struggle to gel in the early stages of this NBA season, talk about Love's future won't go away. 

Love has been the subject of persistent rumors about the All Star power forward eventually making his way to the Los Angeles Lakers, but ahead of the Cavs game against Boston tonight he was happy to shoot them down. The Akron Beacon Journal report that Love said today "Going to the Lakers, no, that's not [true]. I don't know where somebody got that."

Next summer the Lakers will indeed have enough money to sign a max free agent, but after striking out this past off-season on a slew of free agent stars including LeBron, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Lance Stephenson, there's little evidence to support player clamoring to make their way to the marquee team. NBA.com's Sam Smith brought up the Love-to-the-Lakers situation earlier this week when also discussing possible detonations for Kobe Bryant.  

It comes hot on the heels of the handshake routine between Love and Irving that prompted some people to suggest they were mock smoking joints. Turns out, the pair were simply twirling imaginary mustaches. 

According to ESPN, Love today said "Whatever [people assumed] we were doing with our hands was about as true as me going to the Lakers."

"I mean, I don't know why it was so hard for people to realize that we were actually curling our mustache. I guess because I had my fingers in the wrong place. Looking at the tape - film don't lie - it looks like we are doing something bad, but that wasn't the case."

The speculation about the handshake actually necessitated a statement from the Cavs, say Yahoo! "To clarify, they are quickly sharpening the end of an imaginary mustache at the end of their exchange with each other. It has nothing to do with smoking a joint as some blogs (and even some mainstream folks now) are suggesting/reporting."