Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love will not play on Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Cavs host the Toronto Raptors on Monday, so the organization is going to sit out their lone All-Star on Tuesday since it’s the second night of a back-to-back.
Kevin Love has played in nine games for the Cavs since returning from his toe injury. He’s averaging 18.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 42.6 percent from the field, 43.1 percent from beyond the arc and 94.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Love has sat out three games since returning. There’s no point to play the stretch forward in back-to-backs. The 30-year-old has looked really good, and the last thing the Cavs want to do is run the risk of Love getting hurt again.
Cleveland enters Monday with a record of 16-50, putting them at the 14th spot in the Eastern Conference standings. The second post-LeBron James era has gone just about how everyone imagined it to. It didn’t help that Love got hurt after the first four games of the season and had to undergo surgery, but even if Love was in the lineup all season, the Cavs would have struggled.
The development of point guard Collin Sexton and small forward Cedi Osman is the most important thing for the franchise right now.