Rumors have swirled for much of the past season that Kevin Love was unhappy in Cleveland being a third banana to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, struggled to fit in on and off the court, and is set to leave via free agency. According to reports, the Cavaliers intend to make that decision hard on him.
ESPN has reported that the Cavaliers are preparing to offer Love a full five-year max contract to remain in Cleveland, and he was recently seen in Los Angeles hanging out with James, who like Love, is going to opt out of his current contract.
Love was traded to Cleveland last offseason for a package headlined by 2014 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins, and although Love's year was not disastrous, he seemed a shell of his prime form in Minnesota. Most of Love's looks were corner 3-pointers, and while he's an above-average shooter for a power forward, Cleveland rarely utilized his effective post game.
Defensively, Love worsened the Cavaliers when he was on the court, and his effort wasn't demonstrably better than when he played for the Timberwolves. His scoring, rebounding, 3-point percentage and usage were all down, and then he was injured in the first round of the playoffs, only to watch Cleveland reach the NBA Finals anyway.
Love has also been linked to the Boston Celtics in a potential sign-and-trade, or to the Lakers via free agency, where he would once again be the No. 1, or at worst No. 2 option on offense.
James is expected to wait until Love's situation is finalized before making any decision on his own future, but is believed to be returning to Cleveland. The Cavaliers have a number of roster issues to work out; in addition to Love, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Tristan Thompson are all free agents. It's unclear if Smith is a priority for the Cavs, but Thompson, who shares an agent with James, could be in line for a deal close to the max.
[ESPN]
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