Kevin Love Expected to Depart Jazz Before 2025-26 Tipoff
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Veteran big man Kevin Love is widely anticipated to leave the Utah Jazz via trade or buyout before the 2025-26 NBA season begins, according to reporting from The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando.
Love, 37, was sent to Utah on July 7 in a three-team deal that moved Norman Powell to the Miami Heat and John Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers. One month after the transaction, Marc Stein of The Stein Line noted that the five-time All-Star was already exploring exit options, including a possible buyout. Love remains on the Jazz roster with training camps only weeks away.
The former No. 5 overall pick is entering the final year of his contract and is owed $4.15 million this season. League observers quoted by Durando expect Utah—coming off an NBA-worst 17-65 record—to part ways with Love before opening night, clearing the way for him to join a contending club.
Durando floated the Denver Nuggets as a hypothetical destination, emphasizing that the team’s need for veteran frontcourt depth could make Love a fit. Denver’s current reserve forwards—Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji and Hunter Tyson—are all early in their careers, with only Watson having earned consistent rotation minutes.
Love, now entering his 18th NBA campaign, has played limited minutes in recent seasons, serving primarily as a locker-room mentor in Cleveland and Miami. He finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2021-22. The Oregon native also maintains a longstanding relationship with Nuggets head coach David Adelman, who was on Minnesota’s staff during Love’s tenure with the Timberwolves.
Beyond frontcourt help, Denver is also monitoring point-of-attack defense and backup point guard options, Durando wrote. The reigning champions have operated above the luxury-tax threshold for three consecutive years and may pursue cost-saving moves to avoid repeater penalties.
Source: Hoops Rumors
