After their last Finals appearance in 2018, and the departure of LeBron James, we were all wondering what Kevin Love was going to do. Taking a look at the roster, it was clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers were looking at a rebuilding situation after drafting Collin Sexton. The only question left was whether or not Love would take a “hometown hero” contract and stick around for the rebuild or take a slight discount and try and contend for championships elsewhere.
Ultimately, Love and the Cavs agreed to a max contract, and missed a big chunk of last season, so we didn’t really see how he was going to react to playing on a bad team. It has become clear over the last few days that Love very much doesn’t love playing for a bad team, like, at all. On Saturday, Love erupted on Cavs’ GM Koby Altman, according to The Athletic, creating a scene in front of players, coaches and members of the front office, after which, Altman threatened to fine him, which Love responded with, “Go ahead, I have plenty of money.”Love would go on to display his frustrations in their next game
On one hand, I totally understand his frustrations. He played for a bad Timberwolves team for the majority of his career, and then went on to go to four straight NBA Finals when LeBron made his return to Cleveland and basically brought Love with him. It certainly couldn’t be easy to go from a champion and a contender to one of the worst teams in the league (LeBron also could speak to this last season.) That said, I’m not feeling too sorry for KLove. He very much had to know what he was getting himself into.
Did he really think that a team anchored by Tristan Thomson would contend for the playoffs? I know I didn’t think for a second that a Cavs team with a HEALTHY Kevin Love was going to contend for even the eighth seed. There wasn’t enough talent and Ty Lue wasn’t a good enough coach. Love probably had plenty of teams interested in him, but he wanted to remain in Cleveland and take the max deal, which I absolutely respect, but it’s hard for me to sit here and think for a second that he didn’t consider the possibility that this team might not be that good without LeBron James.
I just don’t buy it.Despite the fact that he’s under contract, we do live in an era where player movement is more common than ever, so I wouldn’t be the slightest bit shocked if Love were to find his way to a playoff contender by the trade deadline (If that Russell Westbrook contract was tradable, any contract is tradable.)
Now, we’ll just have to sit here and wait for Woj or Shams to drop the inevitable bombshell when Love comes up in trade talks with the Blazers or Lakers.