Kevin Love signed a five-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers last year, and the timing of the deal may have cost him millions.
Love signed his five-year, $110 million deal in 2015. Had he signed a one-year deal with an opt-out, he could have signed after the new money from the league’s TV deals factored in, which increased the salary cap and would have given him much more money — around $4 million more per season.
Love acknowledged this week that he has thought about whether he hurt himself financially with the timing of his deal, but he says he does not regret it.
“I have thought about it, of course. But I don’t regret anything,” Love said this week via the Akron Beacon Journal’s Jason Lloyd. “Everybody in my position did the same thing when you look at [LaMarcus] Aldridge, DeAndre [Jordan] and Marc Gasol. Players like that who are max players went ahead and signed [long term].”
The big reason why Love doesn’t regret his choice is because he is happy being in Cleveland, and also because the security is important given his injury history.
“When it’s your time [to sign], it’s your time. You’ve got to figure it out,” Love said via Lloyd. “Maybe the shoulder had something to do with it, but you’ve got to think about risk adversity. How much risk do you want to take? Knowing I could be with this team, locking in for five years, it was an easy choice.”
The Cavs won the championship last season and are off to another great start this season. Best of all, Love seems to be fitting in well with LeBron James and his Cavs teammates. That part is key since there were questions during Love’s first season in Cleveland about whether he was fitting in.
