Cavs: Kevin Love should consider retirement if he can’t come back this year

The Cavs aren’t sure what the future holds for Kevin Love, nor does he with his mounting injuries, but is it time to say goodbye?

It’s a tale as old as time, every athlete has to admit when it’s time to say goodbye to the sport they love. That may be the situation that Kevin Love could be in at this given state of his career. Love has played in just 42% of games over the last three years. 22 games in 2018-2019, 56 games in 2019-2020 and so far only four games during the 2020-2021 season.

If he doesn’t return to the court at all, his percentage will drop all the way to 36% of games. That’s Grant Hill’s post-Detroit early years on Magic levels of bad.

Now there are people who are all “he’s faking to get traded”, but he’s not. We’d have known about it by now, NBA clubs are not super good at keeping secrets. More so, it’s killing his trade value. Briand Windhorst has explained that Love has been available for months and the rest of the NBA is desperate for power forwards.

So what does that tell you? That Love’s injuries are a turn-off. Sure, his contract doesn’t help, but if he was playing 70+ games a year, putting up 18 points and 11 rebounds a game, someone would come calling at the very least.

Would a deal get done? Who knows. All that can be said for sure is that Love has shown himself to still be a good player when on the court. It’s getting on the court that’s the problem.

The saddest thing is that so many people would love to have his skillsets. He’s never been a guy with uber-athleticism, so in his early 30s, his play wouldn’t need to change. Save for someone like Zion Williamson who might be a vastly different player in ten years.

Love can always shoot and rebound, which are the two things teams want him for.

The only way out of his deal right now is a buyout and even though Dan Gilbert isn’t shy about losing money on the Cavs (no profit in their championship season), it’d be hard to argue about buying him out.

If Love can’t get back on the court this year, for the sake of himself and the Cavs fanbase, Love should seriously consider hanging up the sneakers. That pains me to say, as I’ve always been a big fan of the guy, even now. I’d love to see him keep playing but is it even viable for him anymore?