Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have seemingly been linked to Love ever since he signed on the dotted line two summers ago. One reason is obvious: Love is a native of Lake Oswego and there’s this recent NBA trend going around where players seem to want to return home to play for their childhood team (LeBron serves as the pioneer of this movement, while Kawhi and Paul George have followed his lead).
But, beyond the sentimentality of such a move, the Blazers have also had a hole at the 4 ever since they lost LaMarcus Aldridge. For the past few seasons, they’ve trotted out the Al-Farouq Aminu-Moe Harkless combination on the wing – a duo they grew tired of after their unwillingness to shoot 3’s that other teams afforded them in the playoffs, which allowed opposing coaches to utilize trapping schemes against their two-star guards.
Carmelo Anthony is currently occupying this spot but he’s on a one-year non-guaranteed deal so he’s hardly a long-term solution. Love isn’t exactly a perfect fit, as he’s prone to defensive lapses much like their star guard duo, but you could do a lot worse than a Lillard-McCollum-Love-Nurkic foursome (assuming Nurkic returns to full health).