Sexton has since ‘unliked’ the tweet. But the facts still remain that Love is earning $31.3 million this season despite making only four appearances to the tune of 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The 32-year-old recently returned to the court after a calf issue had sidelined him since December. But he lasted just two games for a total of 12 minutes before seemingly re-aggravating the injury. Beyond this season, Love is still owed $60.2 million over the next two years.
There is an argument that Love earned his contract with past performance, including multiple All-Star appearances in Cleveland and a big contribution to their 2016 title. But he does have a history of issues with Sexton, which could be rearing its head again now.
Kevin Love has played in just two games this season because of a calf injury, and it could be at least another two weeks before the Cleveland Cavaliers star suits up again.
The Cavaliers have only two games remaining before the All-Star break, which spans nine days. Love went through a pre-game workout prior to Saturday’s game and is said to be making progress, but it makes sense for Cleveland to give him the extra time to fully recover.
Love originally suffered a strained calf in the Cavs’ preseason opener. He then appeared in two regular season games before being sidelined on Dec. 27.
Love reportedly felt some soreness in his calf following back-to-back practices last week, which is why he has only been taking part in individual workouts again.
The Cavs are 13-21 on the season and unlikely to make the playoffs. Love’s most important role at this stage is to be a leader for a young team, so Cleveland will be happy to have him back whenever he’s cleared.
Kevin Love shared a funny story recently about LeBron James’ big game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
James scored a season-high 46 points in his Los Angeles Lakers’ 115-108 win over Love’s Cavs on Jan. 25. James was ignited by a reaction from a Cavs exec, who celebrated James missing a shot at the end of the third quarter.
"He was a little bit too excited about seeing me miss.”
LeBron misses a shot at the end of the 3rd quarter & notices a Cavs front office member celebrating.
James responds by making 9-of-10 shots & outscoring the Cavs 21-19 in the 4th quarter
But Love recalled another moment from the game that stood out to him.
Love visited with the “Road Trippin” show for an episode published on Monday. In the episode, Love recalled a story of how LeBron warned the Cavs not to “gap” him with their defense. Sure enough, the Cavs gapped him on the play, which led Love (who was on the bench due to injury), to throw his hands up in disgust.
“My Fiancé. The Joy of My Life,” Love wrote as his comment on the photo.
Bock shared her comment after being proposed to for her birthday.
“Well, this was the best birthday surprise I could have ever imagined. I couldn’t be happier to have been asked to be a Love by my love. Heart bursting all day & night,” she wrote on her comment.
Kyrie Irving is taking a strong stance against the media heading into the 2020-21 season, and Kevin Love does not agree with the way his former teammate is handling himself.
Irving was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Thursday for declining to speak with the media on numerous occasions. The Brooklyn Nets star issued a statement on Friday insulting the media and calling reporters “pawns.” Love is among those who found the comments disrespectful.
“To call you guys or anybody pawns — I’ve just always felt that everybody has a part to play. This is you guys’ livelihood,” Love said. “I’m thankful that we’re all working and you guys are all working. I think that goes without saying right now.”
Love, who played with Irving on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-2017, spoke about how he learned to respect the media from the late Flip Saunders. He added that he can understand what Irving is trying to accomplish on some level, but he is strongly opposed to the way the star point guard is going about it.
“I think that calling anybody a pawn is a sure sign of disrespect,” Love said. “I understand where Kyrie is coming from in trying to better a number of people’s lives, but I’m just not a divisive person. That’s where I stand on that. I love Kyrie. I know he’s changed and I don’t know what’s going on but, again, I’m not a divisive person and I believe everybody has a part to play so long as the intent’s there and it comes from a good place.”
You can hear Love’s full thoughts below:
Not my question, but here's Kevin Love's extended thoughts on Kyrie Irving's "pawns" post stemming from a rocky relationship with the media. #Cavs@basketbllnewspic.twitter.com/Jh3NpI3Mli
Irving has not provided any specific reasons why he decided to make a blanket statement about the media, so calling all reporters “pawns” is lazy and unfair. He certainly can’t blame the media for his recent LeBron James headline.
Irving is always trying to prove why he’s the smartest guy in the room, which is why he’s notoriously difficult to play alongside. That will be worth monitoring as Kevin Durant makes his Nets debut this season.
Kevin Love won’t be competing in the Dunk Contest any time soon, but apparently he can still hold his own above the rim from time to time.
Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Isaac Okoro spoke Thursday about what has surprised him in training camp so far and joked about Love’s athleticism.
“I didn’t think Kevin Love still had bounce,” said Okoro, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. “He’s still getting up, still dunking right now. He surprised me with a couple dunks that he had. Caught a put-back dunk one time. That surprised me for sure.”
Love is now 32 but still had healthy averages of 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in 2019-20. According to Basketball Reference, the five-time All-Star has actually dunked 225 times in his NBA career (with three of them coming last season).
Granted, Love is usually the one getting dunked on instead of the other way around. But Okoro is learning early on that appearances can be deceiving.
It has been more than two years since Kevin Love first opened up about his struggles with anxiety and depression, and the Cleveland Cavaliers star continues to raise awareness about mental health issues by sharing his own experiences. In a recent interview, Love revealed that he still experiences suicidal thoughts.
Love discussed a wide range of topics during an appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” including the depression and anxiety he experienced after suffering a serious hand injury when he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2012. Love told Bensinger he researched a number of ways to take his own life around that time, and he was asked if he still thinks about suicide. He admitted that he does.
“If whoever’s gonna watch this who has had those thoughts before, I think it does cross your mind and I’ve just learned to speak my truth, honestly,” Love said. “I’ve learned that, you know, nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say. So me keeping that in is actually more harmful.”
Love said there were points in his life where basketball was his only escape, which is why he went to a very dark place after injuring his hand in 2012. He said therapy and opening up about his issues has helped tremendously, but he still has days that are “super brutal.”
“I’ve obviously had days that I really do struggle, I suffer a lot from imposter theory as well,” Love explained. “Like I sometimes don’t feel deserving. I don’t feel like I’m worthy of what I’ve accomplished, or the success I’ve had, and a lot of times I feel like a fraud, because I don’t feel like I’ve achieved enough.”
Kevin Love was infamously discontent with the state of affairs in Cleveland this season, but next season could prove to be a very different story for him.
In a feature this week, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com noted that the former All-Star big man has a “phenomenal” relationship with new Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff, who previously coached Love as an assistant for the Minnesta Timberwolves. Fedor states that Bickerstaff will have a better idea of how to keep Love “happy and engaged” and that “enough has changed” since his desire to be traded that Love won’t force a move out of Cleveland.
Love, who is about to turn 32, has two years and $60.2 million left on his deal with the Cavs. He was openly unhappy and confrontational with the team this season, which proved to be yet another losing one for Cleveland.
Some even suggested that Love might have sabotaged coach John Beilein, but the team’s decision to fire Beilein and replace him with Bickerstaff might be enough to keep Love around for the time being.
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.
“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.
John Beilein didn’t work as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it sounds like Kevin Love did him no favors.
Beilein officially resigned during the week after going 14-40 as the Cavs’ head coach, and he was replaced by JB Bickerstaff. Beilein had issues with some of the players, and there were complaints about Beilein running things like a college program.
At first, much of the criticism about Beilein’s tenure was aimed at the coach, but on Thursday, Charles Barkley said the players were to blame. Barkley is not the only one hinting at that.
During Thursday’s edition of the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast, Windhorst and co-host Tim MacMahon talked about how Love seemed to undermine the hiring.
Windhorst said Love showed up for training camp at effectively the last minute. MacMahon also talked about how Love was against Beilein.
“Kevin Love did everything but rent a billboard saying Beilein sucks,” MacMahon said. “There was zero percent chance of Beilein, and it wasn’t gonna work regardless, but with Kevin Love around that was gonna be a complete disaster. Because he was gonna make it clear how much he thought this coach was over his head, and he was gonna be right.”
Whether Love was against the Beilein hire or not, it was clear this season that Love had issues with the Cavs. Love screamed at the team’s GM in early January and was seen getting upset with another player. Love exhibited poor leadership, which likely contributed to the team’s poor record, and Beilein’s difficulties connecting with the players.
