Cavs: 3 players who might not finish the season in Cleveland

Cavs: 3 players who might not finish the season in Cleveland – Kevin Love

The most obvious choice on the roster to not finish the season with the Cavs is Kevin Love. He was a crucial part of the contending teams, spacing the court alongside LeBron James and helping to bring home four straight Conference titles and one NBA title. For all of his defensive deficiencies, he is part of one of the most iconic defensive plays in Cavaliers’ history.

Those days have passed, unfortunately, and Love is one of the league’s most overpaid players. He will make $31.26 million this season, and a total of $60.2 million over the next two seasons. That’s a lot of money to pay for any player, but especially one who simply cannot stay healthy. Love played in just 25 games last year and 103 over the last three, or an average of 34.3 games per season.

Love is clearly not the same player, and his trade value is so far underwater he is singing along with Sebastian the crab. Unless the Cavs want to attach a significant asset to his contract, he won’t be moving via trade.

That makes a buyout something of an eventuality. Love and his camp are trying to push back on that in hopes of a trade suitor emerging, but unless Love can ball out to a significant degree early in the season that’s not going to happen. Perhaps a healthy Love could have done that, but he wasn’t able to make a difference for a Team USA squad in need of bigs, and he is buried on the Cavs’ roster behind multiple other power forwards.

Eventually, Love and the Cavs will work out some sort of agreement, where Love gives back a portion of his salary to gain his freedom and the Cavs clear him out of the locker room. That’s what is best for both sides, and it is only a matter of time before they stop posturing and make it happen.