Cavs: Kevin Love seems to be ready to move on, whenever that is

Kevin Love was vague when talking about his future with the Cavs

Kevin Love isn’t about to tell you that he wants out of Cleveland, again anyway. He already stated that he wants to play in Portland and be a Trailblazer at some point in his career. Last I checked, he wasn’t some superhero who can be in two places at once, so that basically means that he does in fact want to leave Cleveland at some point.

That’s not a stretch to make.

So it’s rather surprising he was as docile as he was during the Cavs media day on Monday. During the questioning, Love didn’t talk about his future much outside of this year. He denied talks of a buyout and even said he wants to keep his head down and go about his business, wherever that ends up.

Which is an odd choice of words. It sounds like Love is ready to go. As Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com documented;

"Just putting my head down, keeping quiet and going about my business. The buyout had never even come up. I think that’s speculation. …For me that’s never been a thing. I’m still sitting here Year 14 as a Cav.Listen, it’s a young team, this is obviously where this is headed and where this is going, but what I’m going to try to be, like I told Koby (Altman) and J.B. (Bickerstaff), is a positive force. Wherever this ends up, I just want to make sure that at least internally in here when we walk into this building, that’s positive. …But I want to make sure that it’s going to be positive so long as I’m donning a Cavs jersey."

Koby Altman, someone most Cavs fans are none too pleased with heading into year four of the rebuild, wanted to make it clear that Love is someone he hopes will help the team going forward. If he’s healthy, a chronic problem with Love. Fedor quoted Altman, saying;

"I think he understands that he has to be healthy to help us, that’s priority No. 1 for us. A healthy Kevin Love helps us on the basketball court, he helps us off the court. …Kevin’s been here a long time, I think now going into this year, Cleveland is going to be his longest tenure. He’s a future Hall of Famer, he’s ours and we’re fortunate to have him."

As for Love’s role on the team? He’s apparently not vibing with the idea of him getting limited minutes, as Fedor quotes him saying;

"…That’s probably a conversation that will happen over the next week or two."

The Kevin Love and Cavs situation will only get worse

It certainly sounds like Love wants more minutes if he stays in Cleveland and is very open to the idea of him moving on at some point this year or in the near future. The way Altman talked about how Love needs to stay healthy certainly seems like a message from on high about how Love essentially has to prove he’s worth those minutes.

With Love being known for, as Chris Fedor so eloquently put it, his “childish outbursts”, it’s very likely that the Cavs and Love end up having a nasty, no good, messy divorce. We’ve seen nothing from Altman or Love over the last four years that makes you think these two will be able to work it out.

If Love’s healthy, returns to form and plays as he did in 2018, he’s a useful player. Especially if a major trade happens and Love is still with the Cavs. That doesn’t seem likely though. Both parties said all the right things, more or less, but the history of this fractured relationship sure seems to be evident in their comments.

This could be a messy season if Love continues to act up and Altman isn’t able to move on from him.

Here’s hoping Love is healthy, happy, and efficient for the Cavs during the season. Otherwise, this is going to be a long season.