Ricky Rubio on Kevin Love: 'I want him to stay and I’m going to tell him what I think'

Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio stand on the court during the fourth quarter in a game against Utah (Ann Heisenfelt/AP) While the Minnesota Timberwolves continue

Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio stand on the court during the fourth quarter in a game against Utah (Ann Heisenfelt/AP)

While the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to engage in trade talks for power forward Kevin Love, point guard Ricky Rubio has a contingency plan: call Love and get him to stay put.

In an interview with NBA.com, Rubio said that while he doesn't want to convince Love to stay in Minnesota if he has no desire to, he would like him to stick around. "I want him to stay and I’m going to tell him what I think, which is we’ve been improving every year and he’s a great player, he helps us a lot," he said. "I think we need to make the next step"

Rubio added that most of the Love trade speculation he's heard has been from the media, and not his teammate. He also reiterated that if Love does end up leaving the team, he doesn't plan on following suit. “I like Minnesota," he said. "But I want to win too."

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an interview with KFAN 100.3 in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Saturday

sources told ESPN's Marc Stein