The Cleveland Cavaliers won't have Kevin Love for the rest of the playoffs, and now there is a "legitimate fear" inside the organization that he'll leave as a free agent, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski discussed Love's situation Wednesday during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show and didn't shy away from the possibility of the first-year Cav leaving.
Cavaliers reportedly have ‘legitimate fear’ that Kevin Love leaves as free agent
There’s growing concern in Cleveland that the team won’t be able to retain Kevin Love this summer.
“I think he has all year long looked longingly at free agency and the possibility of what else is out there,” Wojnarowski said of Love. The Cavaliers were hoping that a playoff run full of big moments for the star forward could convince him to stick around in a supporting role on a contender, but his season-ending injury has put an end to that.
Now, Love will make his decision "based on a regular season where he hasn't embraced or loved that role -- that Chris Bosh [role]." The Cavaliers had envisioned Love playing as a secondary star behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, similar to Bosh during the Miami Heat's Big Three era, but "Love hasn't been super willing to play that part," Woj said.
And with the chance to hit unrestricted free agency this summer if he opts out of the final year of his contract, Love seems to be open to the possibility of leaving Cleveland for a bigger role elsewhere. The Cavaliers never really had a chance to sell him on the highs of a big postseason run, and now he may leave before that ever comes to fruition.
Still, leaving a team as talented as the Cavaliers wouldn’t be easy. Could Love really sign elsewhere as a free agent?
Why Love walking makes sense
This is all about the kind of role Love wants in a franchise. The Cavaliers can offer him a stacked roster and more money than other team. If this was simply about money and winning over the next few years, Cleveland is the best option.
So the only reason Love leaving the Cavs makes any sense would be to challenge himself in a different way. As Wojnarowski said, Love hasn’t really embraced the third fiddle role behind James and Irving. If he’s set on being the primary star like he was in Minnesota, that means signing elsewhere. Love is never going to unseat the other stars in the Cavaliers’ hierarchy.
And it's not unreasonable for Love to want that. Sure, winning is important to athletes, and the Cavaliers offer decent odds at a title, but maybe Love's ambitions as a player go beyond that. Maybe he's okay risking less team success if it means he's the one at the center of it all, especially if that place is Los Angeles, where he went to college. The Lakers will surely bid on him if he's available. And hey, maybe he's just convinced that his talents are being wasted in Cleveland.
Regardless, this would be all about Love’s personal preferences. If he wants more attention, more shots and more responsibility in both good times and bad times, then leaving Cleveland makes sense. The Cavaliers can offer him chances at a title on a max salary, but only if he’s willing to take a back seat to the other stars.
Why Love staying makes sense
If Love decides to sign elsewhere as a free agent, he would be inking a smaller contract with a team that’s likely not as talented as the Cavaliers. While a max contract is a lock for Love no matter what, Cleveland has the advantage of offering an extra year to its own free agent, either this summer if he opts out or next summer.
Love has also regularly made public statements saying he won’t leave the team. “I think that we will figure it out here, so I don’t plan on opting out or any of that,” Love told Cleveland.com in January. “I plan on being here. As far as leaving my options open, I mean sure, it’s always there. At the end of the day, it’s always good to have something but no, I plan on being here.”
And while Love never quite hit his stride during his first year with the team, it was far from a disaster. The Cavaliers were better with him on the floor, he still put up respectable numbers and now the team is battling in the Eastern Conference semifinals. If it weren't for the shoulder injury, we'd likely be distracted by the series against the Chicago Bulls instead of wondering about his future.
So Love could easily come back to Cleveland and continue working to build something there. If he wants to a win a championship, there’s probably no better wagon to hitch to than one driven by James and Irving. The only question is whether he wants something else (like the ability to spend most of his time living in warm L.A. compared to wintry Cleveland).
Likelihood: 5 out of 10
When a reporter as plugged in as Wojnarowski says Love is going to look at other options, that’s a strong sign it’s probably true. However, we don’t know if the forward will actually opt out of the final year of his deal, and it’s always possible he does so simply to pursue a long-term deal with the Cavaliers.
It’s also possible Love wants to keep the door open in case something better comes along, even if that’s unlikely. He said as much in January even while insisting he wasn’t going to leave Cleveland. Maybe this year proved to him that winning, while important, shouldn’t be the only thing driving his career. Still, it’s not often you see great players walk away from potential title teams when they don’t have to, so this one looks like a coin flip.
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