Kevin Love can now officially be traded, as the sixth-month post-contract extension restriction is now lifted for the Cleveland Cavaliers big. He’s reportedly likely to stick around, though.
As you probably are aware, Cleveland Cavaliers star big Kevin Love signed a four-year, over $120 million contract extension (per Spotrac) in July of last year, signaling that he wanted to stick around long-term. Even with that being the case, the trade rumors swirling around Love haven’t gone away, as they really haven’t during most of his tenure with the Cavs since 2014. According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (h/t Cavs Nation’s Bruno Manrique), Cleveland intends to keep Love in a Wine and Gold uniform through the NBA’s February 7 trade deadline, though.
"“According to sources, the Cavs’ stance on keeping Love hasn’t changed. They want him in Cleveland. They value what he can bring on the court when healthy and his leadership and set-the-tone work ethic behind the scenes has been very important. He wants to stay with the team as well.”"
Love wanting to stick with the Cavaliers through a full-on rebuild situation has to truly be a breath of fresh air for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fan base, which is going to suffer for probably the next few years with how much the roster needs to improve to compete for a postseason birth.
Here’s a bit of what Love had to say on that before, per Fedor.
"“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve said all along I’ve wanted to be here. I’ve said this, too, it’s a business,” Love said recently. “We saw that last year at the deadline. Think every trade deadline, draft, free agency, always brings something new. I would love to be here. Would just love to get through a whole season healthy just because I’ve had nagging things that have taken time and been a little bit unlucky, but I would like to play ball here.”"
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Yes, as we’ve hit on countless times here at KJG, Love is getting paid the massive bucks. The guy gets injured often, and that hurts, but having him around for at least this season, in my opinion, can help considerably, given how he’s reportedly improved as a leader, and with Love’s multi-faceted skill set offensively as an inside-out scorer.
He’s a five-time All-Star that has averaged 18.3 points per game on 56.8 percent true shooting and has a PER of 21.9 for his career.
Love’s rebounding (11.3 career rebounds per game, per Basketball Reference) could help Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. (who are both dealing with reported injuries) a great deal when he gets healthier, and his tremendous shooting stroke could help space the floor for Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson and others.
As Fedor noted, “even if the Cavs were willing to trade their lone All-Star, it would be pretty complicated given Love hasn’t played since Oct. 24 and isn’t yet ready to return.”
Love knows more than anybody that trades of star players do happen, but for now, it seems as though the Cleveland Cavaliers want him to stick around to help develop young pieces. We’ll see if that holds true in the coming weeks.