Cavaliers, Kevin Love complete contract buyout; Heat, 76ers favorites
The last member of the 2016 championship will reportedly soon be on the move.
The Cavs and Kevin Love are finalizing a contract buyout, according to an ESPN report.
In recent weeks, Love had fallen out of the nine-man rotation deployed by Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff has noted this season that the team expected some frustration as players returned from injuries and the rotation had be to re-shuffled. The Cavs also didn’t want to simply divvy up minutes to 11 or 12 players, believing that it would make it more difficult to find a rhythm.
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Prior to falling out of the rotation altogether, Love was averaging 20 minutes a game, the lowest of his 15 NBA seasons.
Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman noted after the trade deadline that the team didn’t anticipate a buyout, but that was before the Cavs added forward Danny Green. Following Green’s signing, the Cavs and Love reportedly moved forward without buyout talks.
Love essentially confirmed the report Saturday afternoon, tweeting, “I’ll have more to say soon but want to get this off my chest. To the people of Cleveland and all of Ohio. I f LOVE you…and always will. Thank you for everything.”
The Miami Heat, who currently hold the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, are the favorites to land Love’s services. Love will also reportedly speak with the Philadelphia 76ers, who hold the No. 3 seed. The Cavs, if the season finished today, would be the No. 4 seed in the East.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
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