Klay in play? Kevin Love trade discussions heat up

We're a week away from next Thursday night's NBA draft and that Kevin Love trade talk is heating up.

One day after we learned Denver is in pursuit, former Gophers star Mychal Thompson on L.A. radio station ESPN 710 Thursday said he has inside information from up in Oakland that the Warriors are close to trading his son Klay to the Wolves along with David Lee and a future first-round pick to the Wolves for their two Kevins, Love and Martin.

Later off the air, Thompson told a Bay Area reporter his source was someone from ESPN.

ESPN's Marc Stein, who's based in Dallas not in Oakland, cited sources as saying the Warriors indeed now are willing to include Klay Thompson in a trade.

ESPN's Chris Broussard then added in a tweet that the trade possibly could be Love, Kevin Martin, J.J. Barea and the Wolves' 13th pick for Thompson and Lee.

Again, it's more anonymously sourced chatter but you can see where this is going: The Warriors always have, in my book, been among the favorites, probably the favorite, because they have the assets if they were willing to include Klay Thompson, they satisfy Love's desire to go to a place where he can win now, their owner is highly motivated and Love would likely re-sign there.

I don't think Thompson being suddenly available is new. I think the Warriors always have known he'll have to be part of the deal if they want Love.

Flip told me pretty flat-out today that he's not trading his 13th overall pick, and seemed taken aback a bit when I asked him about it.

It's a dance and there still is seven days before draft night. And with a draft like this where likely no draft picks will be involved, there's no reason this has to, or will, get done by draft night.

In revealing a trade prosposal he said believes will happen, Mychal Thompson on his radio show said at first he was "too depressed" to talk about it and then added that he'd have to talk his son "down off the ledge" if the trade comes to be because Klay was looking forward to playing alongside Love in Oakland.

"It's going to cost my son a chance to play with his former childhood playmate," said Mychal Thompson, who added his son and Love played together as youngsters. "It's disappointing because Klay and I have been talking about this all summer, the possibility of this happening, him and Kevin being on the same team along with Steph Curry. He was really looking forward to that. He thought if you added Love to the Splash Brothers (Curry and Thompson) with Bogut and Iguodala and you tweak the bench, they had a chance to the West final next year. That was what he was really pumped up about."

Don't forget that Thompson played with Flip with the Gophers and Klay Thompson's agent, Bill Duffy, was a college pal of both Saunders and Kevin McHale.

One other thing not to forget: Thompson is due to get paid. He's eligible to sign a contract extension starting July 1 and will be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn't reach agreement on a new contract by October's end.