Kevin Love doesn’t want to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers if it means he has to negotiate a contract buyout. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN spoke to Love’s agent, who informed him that the two sides haven’t sat down to discuss a way out of the remaining two years and $60 million on his deal, nor is there any real desire from Love’s camp in doing that.
“There have been no talks with Cleveland on a buyout, nor is there any interest from Kevin in doing a buyout,” Jeff Schwartz told Woj.
Love and the Cavaliers agreed to a four-year contract extension that kicked in during the 2019-20 season. The deal was signed in the aftermath of LeBron James leaving Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the thinking was Love could help the team stay afloat in a way that didn’t happen after James departed the franchise for the first time. That hasn’t happened — the Cavs have gone 60-159 over the last three years, while injuries have played a major role in Love’s productivity tailing off considerably. Last year, Love appeared in 25 games, with his 7.4 rebounds and 24.9 minutes a night the lowest marks of his career, while his 12.2 points per game were the fewest since he was a rookie.
It’s hard to fault Love for wanting to make sure he gets this big payday over the coming two seasons, and while he’s had a few incidents where he’s shown his frustration over how things are going in Cleveland, he has said that values helping the Cavs’ young core. Perhaps this is posturing, or perhaps the team will be able to find a trade that involves getting off of his contract and letting their sudden surplus of young big men not have to worry about playing time getting allocated to Love, but for now, it seems like Love’s next two years will be spent in Cleveland.
