Report: Cavs’ Kevin Love’s full-contact practice went ‘pretty well’

Cleveland Cavaliers’ star Kevin Love is working his way back from toe surgery, and his first full-contact 5-on-5 practice reportedly went as expected, which is a positive.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have missed Kevin Love, who’s only played in four games this season, due to reported toe surgery. Today Love took another step in the right direction in regards to his return, though. According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Love was a participant in his “first full-contact 5-on-5 practice.”

He reportedly hasn’t been able to that sort of thing with full-contact since the surgery, and that has to be encouraging for Love, his teammates, and the coaching staff. Head coach Larry Drew noted how Love did “pretty well” overall and eventually “got a little winded,” which is understandable, per Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies.

With Love gradually working his way back onto the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers, him being a bit fatigued in his first full-contact practice post-surgery is normal, as Drew essentially touched on. Having Love go through full-go sort of situations is crucial for him returning to game action, especially with him being Cleveland’s best player and warranting the most attention from the opposing defense.

Larry Nance Jr. highlighted how Love being a full-participant in practice is a major plus for the Cavs’ psyche, per the Cleveland Cavaliers. Love truly is the guy, and having him back on the floor in a bigger capacity is huge.

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Cleveland seemingly hasn’t rushed it with Love to this point, and they shouldn’t be doing that now. Cleveland will still likely be one of the three worst teams in the NBA for the entirety of the season, and whether Love misses the next few games or comes back at the beginning of next week doesn’t make a huge difference in the win-loss total.

Nonetheless, for players on the Cleveland Cavaliers, such as the aforementioned Nance, Cedi Osman, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton and Matthew Dellavedova, having the presence of Love’s career 18.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game (per Basketball Reference) doesn’t hurt.

Love can stretch out opposing defenses with his shooting ability from distance (as a career 37.0 percent three-point shooter), and that will open up more driving lanes for the Cavs.

Love’s health is a key factor in him potentially getting traded near the upcoming February 7 NBA trade deadline, but as Fedor reported recently, the Cavs “want him in Cleveland.”

As Davies hinted at, Drew doesn’t see Love playing against the Dallas Mavericks and rookie phenom Luka Doncic on Saturday. We’ll see how much Love can be on the floor in the next week, which could at least draw more potential trade interest near the upcoming deadline from other teams for Love.