Cleveland Cavaliers: Could Kevin Love be the next Blake Griffin?

1 of 5

CLEVELAND, OH – APRIL 29: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers leaves the court after a 105-101 win in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Indiana Pacers during the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena on April 29, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Kevin Love recently signed an extension that keeps him with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the bargain price of $120M for the next four years.

Instead of many NBA contracts that seen a huge payment in the last year, Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star power forward Kevin Love’s contract sees him make only $28.9M in 2022-23. Without predicting the future, it’s easy to imagine that Love’s $28.9M salary in 2022-23 when he’s 33 years old will be a pretty good investment, pending his health.

The question is, does this contract signal a bigger play?

No one really knows what Cavs general manager Koby Altman and team owner Dan Gilbert are doing.

LeBron James left and they have a top-10 protected pick going to Atlanta in 2019. The obvious route seemed to be trading away veterans (such as Love, George Hill, Kyle Korver, and J.R. Smith), tank and then start a full-on rebuild, like the Philadelphia 76ers.

But the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to see a different path.

Maybe the Boston Celtics are the ideal reload story, though they have an extraordinary amount of first-round picks forever and they are “the Boston Celtics.”

The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have the prestige and they certainly don’t have the picks of a team like Boston, so why get stuck in Miami Heat purgatory for the foreseeable future?

The answer could be a larger play.