2 potential reunions Cavs should explore this summer in free agency

The Cavs should bring Kevin Love back

Kevin Love had his ups and downs over the course of his tenure with the Cavaliers, with injury issues, some role adjustments and some inconsistencies at times.

Leading into the month or so prior to the NBA Trade Deadline this season, Love had fallen out of the Cavaliers rotation as well, and he and the team eventually came to a buyout agreement. Love shortly thereafter signed with the Miami Heat, and has made a difference for their improbable playoff run to this point.

Now, perhaps Love eventually chooses to re-up with the Heat this summer, with the opportunity they gave him after the trade deadline, and are continuing to give him in the playoffs. That wouldn’t be the biggest shocker in the world, with Love choosing to feasibly play out his maybe last couple of seasons with Miami and live in that destination.

Changing course, though, with all the history Love has with the Cavaliers, and with how they could’ve really used his shooting/spacing presence in the postseason, and his defensive rebounding, the two sides getting back together wouldn’t be surprising, either.

Love had struggles related to his prior thumb injury with the Cavs after a strong start to this season, and wasn’t lighting it up with the Heat in post-All-Star break play. But as he’s gotten more comfortable, Love has started to find his shooting rhythm in his minutes, and his rebounding is always meaningful.

Not to mention, Love, when healthy, finished as the runner-up in Sixth Man of the Year voting last season. In a role change to being a supersub, Love had 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest off the bench in 2021-22 for the Cavs.

So, perhaps Love and the Cavs could come to an agreement in him returning this offseason, by way of some of the non-taxpayer MLE, for a two-year deal. That’d seem to be in the ball park for Love’s value at this point in his career, and him set to enter his age-35 season in 2023-24.

His shooting, rebounding and invaluable leadership presence would be more than welcomed back to the Cavs, though.