Kevin Love has become a beloved member of the Cavs organization. The former No. 5 overall pick has seen both ends of the proverbial spectrum in Cleveland — winning a championship in 2016 with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, then going 17-63 in the 2018-19 campaign after both of his running mates had left town.
Though the team is in a rebuilding stage now, Love says there’s no other place he’d rather be:
“I do want to be here. I always have,” Love told 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.”
In past seasons, Love served as an excellent third option. Nowadays, though, 31-year-old has grown into a figure of leadership for Cleveland’s young players, and he’ll be one of the team’s primary scorers.
Love’s name has been tossed about in rumor mills for years. However, with each passing trade deadline, he has remained with the Cavs. He’s open to the idea of Cleveland’s rebuild, and he isn’t going to let trade gossip impact his focus:
“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.”
Ultimately, Love knows that the NBA is a business. Still, he says he has grown fond of Cleveland and its fans, and he’s excited to work with new head coach John Beilein:
“My time in Cleveland could eventually come,” Love said. “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.”
Love is one of the last remaining vestiges of Cleveland’s 2016 championship team. Whether he’s playing for the Cavs or not, his legacy in the city has already been set in stone.