Boston Celtics

Report: Kevin Love 'Holds No Long-Lasting Ill Will' toward Kelly Olynyk

Published May. 12, 2015 12:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

Kelly Olynyk made a rough play on Kevin Love. Their arms got tangled. Love dislocated his shoulder. Love accused Olynyk of doing it on purpose. Olynyk denied intent.

We all know the story by now. But we have a little more depth, thanks to David Aldridge at NBA.com:

"Yahoo! Sports reported last week that that injury at the hands of Kelly Olynyk may have cooled Love's interest in playing for the Celtics next season," Aldridge wrote. "My experience has consistently been that anger subsides as dollars increase, and I'm told authoritatively that Love holds no long-lasting ill will toward either the Celtics or Olynyk. Boston can offer Love a max deal a second after midnight on July 1, an opportunity to again be the focal point of his team, lead an emerging surrounding cast and play for a terrific young coach."

Well, this is getting interesting.

We know Boston has had interest in Love for some time, and we keep hearing rumblings that general manager Danny Ainge is preparing to make a major move this offseason, whether that be via trade or free agency. Love has to be at or near the top of the priority list.

If Love were to go to Boston, and remember this is all mere speculation, he'd certainly be the exception amongst historical free agents to do so. We think of Boston as this big-market city with a big-market mentality (and that's true geographically), but the Celtics haven't operated like a money-infused powerhouse over the years. Boston has mostly gotten its starts through the draft or via trade. (See: Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, etc.)

Either way, seeing Love and Olynyk on the same team would be fun if only for the smorgasbord of irrational shoulder questions they'd have to answer over their first few weeks together.