Cleveland Cavaliers five-time All-Star Kevin Love is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, and it shouldn’t even be a question.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a rough offseason, but behind Kevin Love, they hope to be, at the very least, in playoff contention. Love is a surefire Hall of Famer and should even make it in on his first appearance.
That said, let’s take a few estimates of what it would take for Love to be given such an honor.
Love is a career 18.3 points per game scorer and has hit over 26 points per game twice. He also has a career average of 11.3 rebounds per game, leading the league with 15.2 during his third season in the league.
Not quite a defensive threat, the only other noteworthy aspect of Love’s game is his three-point shooting. Love didn’t start his career as a perimeter threat, he grew into one. Now, Love has averaged an outstanding 2+ threes per game over his last three seasons.
A few of the accolades that would help Love is that he’s a five-time All-Star and also has a ring to his name, winning the 2016 NBA Finals. The Cavs made a remarkable 3-1 comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals; however, it wasn’t thanks to Love who scored just 18 points the final three games.
In the end, when we look back on the career that Love has had, it won’t include disappearing in the 2016 Finals. What we will remember is his lack of excellence in the postseason though. Love, during his mere four postseasons runs, has averaged over 15 points per game once.
Grant Hill and Jason Kidd are two players that were included in the 2018 Hall of Fame class that can easily be compared to Love resume-wise.
Hill was a seven-time All-Star, didn’t win an NBA Championship and saw his career shortened due to an array of ankles injuries.
Aside from his injury issues, Hill put up similar numbers to Love. He averaged a career-high 25.8 points per game on a 42-40 team, similar to Love when to averaged 26.0 points on a 40-42 Timberwolves team.
Love should be able to tie or surpass Hill in All-Star appearances especially in a weaker Eastern Conference lacking frontcourt stardom.
Kidd, on the other hand, was an integral piece of a championship team but could never accomplish the feat on his own. He had to join Dirk in Dallas to take down the LeBron James-led Miami Heat. He doesn’t have an MVP yet has several MVP-caliber seasons.
Both players have several aspects of their careers that model Love’s. That said, if those two can be inducted into the Hall of Fame, then so should Kevin Love.
He’s been disrespected his entire career in Cleveland, but Kevin Love is almost certainly a future Hall of Famer.