On top of the trade report by Adrian Wojnarowski (Yahoo! Sports) involving center Al Jefferson, a possible issue may have arisen before the trade offer was ever made.

In his report, he stated that there is a chemistry issue between Jefferson and forward Kevin Love. “There’s some jealous stuff that’s playing out,” one league source said.

Hence the “schism.” I thought it would be funny to use “schism” because of the whole Minnesota Vikings’ schism report by ESPN early in the Vikings’ season.

The only thing divided could be just between Love and Jefferson. On the court and in public they appear to be playing fine with each other, but the two definitely play different styles of basketball and play just about the same position.

Jefferson is playing center for the Timberwolves, but is a natural power forward, the position he likes to play and the position Love currently plays. The “jealous stuff” could be linked to Love playing the position Jefferson prefers, and Jefferson may feel that is limiting his offensive production.

This whole thing may be an non-issue, but this may be something people should keep an eye on. If there wasn’t a schism before all of this, you can expect some type of division amid the recent trade talks.

Update: Jonah Ballow (Timberwolves.com) said via Twitter: Kevin Love gave Al Jefferson a big hug at shootaround today and they both said, “I love you man.” Likely a joke about the Yahoo! Sports report.

Update: Jon Krawczynski (Associated Press) said via Twitter: “Have a ton of respect for Wojnarowski. But as a guy around the team a lot, have to agree with Al and Love that chemistry is not an issue.”

Tags: Al Jefferson, Kevin Love