Kevin Love confirms buyout request from Cavaliers was hardest thing he’s ever done

Kevin Love confirms that getting bought out from the Cleveland Cavaliers was tough.

Kevin Love ended his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers with rather unceremonious terms. Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff took Love out of the rotation due to mounting injuries, and poor shooting, instead leaning on Dean Wade to fill the minutes’ Love used to have. Love, unhappy with the situation, asked to be released so he could go to a contender and get time.

The Cavs agreed, and the two sides came to a buyout deal, that will actually see Love make more money this season than originally planned. While Love’s tenure ended rather sadly, it wasn’t something that the former All-Star and potential Hall of Famer wanted to have happened. In fact, he told reporters (via The Athletic and Bleacher Report) that it was among the hardest things he’s ever done.

"Professionally, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do without question. I think you guys know how much I love Cleveland and Ohio. All the fans there have always supported me and the team. I go back to Brecksville, and I’m like, ‘We did that. We really did that.’ That was incredibly hard to do after eight and a half seasons, but I think more than anything, I felt like I could still play, and I know I can still play. I didn’t shoot the ball great from 3, but there’s been so many things that I think I’m impacting the team here in a major way. I felt like I could still play, and sometimes you have to give yourself up and sacrifice."

Love took ownership of his own struggles from behind the arc, and didn’t seem to lay any blame on the injuries to his back or hand that happened during the season.

Love went on to about the frustrations of being left on the bench during pivotal moments.

"I think it was a really tough decision for him to take me out of the lineup. I think ultimately, they wanted to go young and stick with those guys and get Dean [Wade] and Cedi [Osman] and Ricky [Rubio] minutes – especially Ricky and Dean especially getting back from injury – so they want to get the guys more minutes. But just natural frustration is you want to be out there, you want to have those conversations in the locker room, you want to be in those timeouts, those type of situations, and I think that all came so fast for me."

Kevin Love has been classy since leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers

Kevin Love has handled his departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers rather professionally, speaking highly of the team he left, the players he shared time with, and the memories that came along with becoming a franchise legend.

His play in Miami, at least so far, has been rather eye-opening to many who thought that getting rid of him may have been a mistake. He hasn’t shot the ball well in Miami, and while he’s still playing well outside of his three-point shooting, he’s not providing the Heat with anything truly special. At least right now.

The Heat and Cavs have a lot of the same issues, so if Love isn’t helping bolster the Heat’s biggest issues, then there’s no reason to think that he’d be doing any better in Cleveland’s rotation.