Kevin Love is one of the last men standing in Cleveland from their 2016 title team, and he wishes their run of success would have lasted longer than it did.
In an interview this week with Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, the Cavaliers big man spoke on the years that he shared with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
“To even have just one more run at it, to see what we were capable of. Just one more run. I would’ve really loved to see that,” said Love. “I think we would’ve been primed for another really big run. Even if it was, for both of them, their last year in Cleveland. It would’ve been nice to see what we were capable of.”
After winning the championship in 2016, the Cavs made their way back to the Finals in 2017 with a record-setting offense. They lost in five games to the Golden State Warriors however, and Irving demanded (and received) a trade that offseason. James and Love then led a depleted Cavs team to yet another Finals berth in 2018, but they fell to the Warriors again, this time in a sweep. James then departed for the Los Angeles Lakers that summer.
Love’s comments are notable because he was often seen as a mismatched third wheel in that Big Three. With Cleveland now in the midst of a second straight sub-20-win season though, the All-Star big can fully appreciate how good the team used to have it back when his co-stars were still around.
