It’s reassuring that in a recent conversation, Kevin Love essentially said he will be 100% locked-in as long as he’s with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
At this point in his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Love is more than used to trade rumors involving him, and quite frankly, he’s handled them about as well as anyone could’ve.
For reference, Cleveland general manager Koby Altman has repeatedly said numerous times, though, that he and the Cavs view Love as a key piece to their full-rebuild. I see Love as a player that could still help young pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and others in their development, but it does seem that the Cavs could very well trade Love this go-round by this season’s deadline on February 6 given conversations on the matter.
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The Cavaliers and Altman, if they do see that as their plan regarding Love, need to be patient, still.
Nonetheless, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski in a trade discussion on Sunday with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, it appears that Love could feasibly be moved soon, and in that conversation, Woj said that the Cavs could be looking at a protected first-round pick, maybe an expiring contract and perhaps a “throw-in” piece in exchange for Love, as was illustrated by Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico.
Hopefully, Cleveland would not have to attach one of their own first-round picks in a potential Love deal, which was reportedly said to maybe be the case, and that should be a no-go scenario for the Cavs.
Anyway, it’s reassuring that in a recent wide-ranging conversation with The Athletic‘s Jason Lloyd, that Love essentially said he will be 100% locked-in as long as he’s with the Cleveland Cavaliers on the floor and from a leadership standpoint.
In the interview, Love hit on plenty of other things, such as an ongoing group chat between himself, LeBron James and several others from the 2016 NBA championship squad, times during the LeBron return, a potential Hall of Fame nod and most notably, the trade rumors.
As Cavs Nation’s Ralph Orense highlighted, Love admitted that he too is surprised that he’s still playing for the Wine and Gold and was not moved after LeBron James went to the Los Angeles via unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018, let alone then coming to an agreement on a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension with Cleveland shortly thereafter.
Again, though, the key takeaway from the interview for me is that Kevin Love emphasized how as long as he is with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he will be totally locked-in. Love’s had some ups-and-downs in the 2019-20 season, but he still has had 15.9 points, a team-leading 10.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, as noted by NBA.com.
As the aforementioned Orense noted, Love also touched on how as long as he’s with the Cavaliers, he’s going to continue to take on an active leadership role in helping players such as Garland and Sexton in their development, which he’s gotten better at.
Love would then seem to hit on that perhaps down the road or soon it might make sense for the Cavs, if they so choose in their full-rebuild, to move him, but it did not in any way seem to be of the Love pushing his way out the door type of thing.
Whether or not the Cleveland Cavaliers do eventually trade Love, it’s reassuring to know that he’s going to be fully locked-in until the end and doing all he can to help the youngsters on and seemingly off the floor, too, if Cleveland chooses to go that route.
Whatever happens, happens, and regardless, I’ll always be more than appreciative of K-Love as a Cavs fan, and what he’s done in helping spread the importance of mental health has been incredible.