Cleveland Cavaliers veteran forward Kevin Love has consistently heard his name mentioned in trade rumors since LeBron James left the Cavs for the Lakers in free agency in the summer of 2018, as Cleveland has been forced to restructure their team following James’ departure.
Despite the rumors though, and the lingering possibility that the organization could indeed move him in exchange for young players or draft picks that could help expedite their rebuild, Love is committed to the the Cavs, and wants to remain in Cleveland.
“I do want to be here. I always have,” Love said earlier this week, via cleveland.com. “I say that knowing it’s the NBA and it’s a business. I think especially after seeing last year, the summer leading up to last year and this summer, the changeover is like unprecedented so you don’t know what is going to happen.
“If they decide to go completely young … and that could be the case, but it’s funny, my agent didn’t call me one time this summer to say, ‘Hey, you’re getting traded, there’s talks that this is happening.’ Of course, somehow it’s still out there and people are talking about, ‘Oh, Kevin would be great here or great there.’ I just keep it moving and try to do right by these guys because we have a good group.”
Love, who has four years and over $120 million remaining on his current contract, knows that his days in Cleveland will ultimately come to an end, one way or another, but until then, he’s committed to helping turn the team back into a title contender.
“Look at how much youth we have on our squad now,” Love said. “My time in Cleveland could eventually come. I know it’s been the talk every single year, but I’ve gotten — I’m not going to say comfortable because comfortable is the wrong word — but I feel comfortable here. I love where I live, I’ve embraced you guys, I’ve embraced the city and the fans, but at the end of the day, given a long-enough timeline, who you work for or somebody you work for will eventually change up and turn.
“I know whether it’s the next four, six or seven years here or whether it’s the next four months, I’m just going to be me and continue to give it all I can. I really do think, especially with (John Beilein), I can get a lot better.”
Part of the reason that Love has been brought up so often in trade talks is because he projects as an excellent fit on some teams that are much closer to contention than the Cavs. And while the Cavs may look to move Love, it certainly doesn’t sound like he will be pushing them to do so.
