Recently, some members of the 2016 Cleveland Cavs‘ championship team reunited on the golf course after ten years, including LeBron James, Kevin Love, JR Smith, and Channing Frye. The Cavs team captured the hearts of the nation by rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals against the 73-win Golden State Warriors to break a 50-plus year championship curse in the city of Cleveland.
Now, some footage has emerged of the team’s reunion, including some Instagram stories from Kevin Love, as well as a post from James, via nbaonprime.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZpn-fwusLt/
Love’s time in Cleveland was not always easy, as his teammates, including James, sometimes took shots at him in the media, leading the phrase “Blame Kevin Love” to become a viral meme back in the mid-2010s NBA landscape. However, Love ended up playing a big role in helping Cleveland secure the 2016 championship, locking down Warriors star Stephen Curry in the closing moments of the game after Kyrie Irving hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the other end of the floor.
Speaking of Irving, he was noticeably absent from the Cavs’ team reunion, although that’s not necessarily a sign of any bad blood between himself and his former teammates. Of course, it was just one year after that 2017 title that Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland, which ended up being fulfilled when he was sent to the Boston Celtics in a move that didn’t quite work out for either side.
In any case, the current iteration of the Cavs are hoping to get the franchise back to those championship heights at some point soon, although they still clearly have some work to do after getting swept by the New York Knicks in the playoffs.