Kevin Love Has Signed A $120 Million Extension With Cleveland


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The Cleveland Cavaliers won’t be completely blowing things up in a post-LeBron world, as some expected them to do. With James now a Laker, the immediate future of the Cavs seemed very much up in the air, but their latest move involving Kevin Love indicates they want to remain reasonably competitive going forward without LeBron.

On Tuesday, the Cavs made sure to lock down their lone All-Star remaining on the roster for the foreseeable future as they gave Love a four-year, $120 million extension (that’s a robust $30 million annually), according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/1021783680505638913

Shortly after the reports came out, the Cavs made the news official with a release, including a statement from Love.

“When I first came to Cleveland, I came with a long-term mindset,” said Love. “I came here to win. We developed a culture here that reflects that. I’m super excited and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a big commitment for me and it’s a big commitment from the Cavaliers, so I want to thank Dan Gilbert, Koby Altman and the entire organization. I enjoy playing here, I’m excited about the team that we have and look forward to our future together. Cleveland fans have been special from day one and I’m also looking forward to continuing to be a part of this great community.”

It’s a no-brainer for Love, who is now financially secure for the remainder of his career. As Woj notes, Love will now make $145 million over the next five years in Cleveland, and it’s a smart deal for the Cavs who now ensure that they will at the least have an All-Star caliber piece for the next few years (before a potential decline as Love enters his mid-30s) to keep them from bottoming out the way they did the last time James left. With expensive arena renovations set to take place at The Q, they don’t want to see attendance take too significant of a slip — he’s even signing his contract in front of construction workers at the arena.

Beyond that, with the new NBA lottery odds shifting away from providing such a heavy reward for teams with the worst records, teams have a bit more incentive to make moves like this to try and stay within striking distance of the postseason if they hit on a few other moves. Cleveland will be in a position over the next two summers to make a run at some free agents, as some of their massive LeBron-era deals come off the books, and they can reset to build around Love.

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