The Utah Jazz have addressed their two biggest priorities in free agency by keeping Jusuf Nurkic and trading Walker Kessler. Between that and drafting Darryn Peterson, there's not much left for Utah to do this summer. That is, besides keeping Kevin Love.
At first, it felt as though Love staying in Utah felt inevitable. Even if he's on his last legs, Love endeared himself to the Jazz so strongly that he went from someone everyone thought would be bought out before he even stepped foot in Utah to the guy everyone absolutely wants back for his influence in the locker room.
But then, there appeared to be some doubts about whether Love was coming back. Not from him, but from the fact that last month, there were reports that he intended to reunite with LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, that report is seemingly nullified following the recent confirmation that James is not coming back to the Lakers. So if that's the case, Love doesn't have much reason to go to the Lakers with the LeBron connection seemingly gone.
Maybe Love would like to go to LA because of his connections there, but if that's the case, the feeling doesn't appear to be mutual.
Lakers looking for other back-up bigs besides Love
The Lakers have been proactive over the past week, between paying a premium to get the long-coveted Kessler, adding a few solid complementary pieces like Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, and now, they've traded Deandre Ayton.
Such a decision would make it easy to conclude that Love would be their next target, but according to Shams Charania, he's not on their list.
The Lakers will now focus on finding Walker Kessler's backup on the market -- with centers such as Andre Drummond, Jonas Valanciunas and Kevon Looney among those being considered, sources said.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2026
The Wizards took a patient approach to the start of free agency and now land a… https://t.co/3GEA9Wx7gY
It's very possible Love wants to reunite with James before he calls it a career, but it would have made more sense for him to both reunite with James and play in the same city as his alma mater (UCLA). Besides, every indication has been that Utah wants to keep him and that the feeling is mutual.
It's not like Love is the difference between missing the playoffs and winning the title for the Jazz, but forming a competitive team requires so many ingredients besides talent. A good locker room absolutely plays a role. Even if the Jazz's frontcourt rotation is more or less set, Love is a good vet to have an awesome emergency big should they become depleted from injuries.
As odd as this it to say, thanks to LeBron, the stars are aligning for Utah to bring back someone no one gave a single thought to at this time last year.
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