SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The offseason has arrived for the Jazz, which means decisions are coming, including whether to bring back veterans Kevin Love and Jusuf Nurkić.

If it were up to them, they’d both be staying in Utah.

“I mean, I think Nurk and I have spoken about it at length, just how much we’ve enjoyed our time here,” said Love.

“It would be so easy to come back, and I want to come back,” said Nurkić. “I love everything about the state and the team.”

“I’ve had a truly great experience here. And that has remained throughout the course of this year,” said Love.

With a young roster, both brought a veteran presence to the locker room, especially 18-year veteran Kevin Love, who has embraced that mentor role and wants to keep it going.

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“I know we’ve been very vocal about it,” said Love. “We would be back here in an instant, just trying to, you know, be great vets and help guys like Ace again who’s 19. Guys in there, you know, first contracts.”

“I’m a big fan of those two guys. I think what they did for our group this year, it can’t be measured,” said Jazz head coach Will Hardy.

But this is the NBA, and wanting to bring guys back is only part of the equation.

“The decisions aren’t just as simple as like, we love Kevin and we love Nurk,” said Hardy. “If it was that simple, man, it would be a lot easier to deal with the ebbs and flows of roster movement in this league.”

“Free agency is a tricky thing and you want to be a part of it,” said Nurkić. “I can’t really speak too much about it. We’ll see how my agent handles that.”

“I want to be back. That’s kind of the, I guess, the main goal. But, you know, like, you can’t really promise anything these days,” said Nurkić.

The interest is there on both sides. Now it’s about whether the business side matches the fit.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me,” said Love. “But I would hope that all the powers that be would look at me as a vet that they would think to bring in. I know I have a lot to give.”

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