Cavaliers Nation Predictions: Which Cleveland Cavaliers Players Are Staying and Which Are Leaving?

5. Kevin Love

Love recently declined his player option worth $16.7 million to become a free agent this July.

What does that mean? He’s giving himself options.

But just because Love is giving himself options, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to be back in Cleveland.

This is simple logic—he largely missed out on the team’s run to the Finals, and before this season, he had never even advanced to the playoffs during his six seasons in the league.

You really think he’s not going to return to a franchise that is automatically the favorite to win the Eastern Conference every year for as long as James is in a Cleveland jersey?

After starting out the season slow, he started to find his niche as the team’s third option on offense. He averaged 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds on the year.

To retain Love, the Cavaliers are going to have to incur luxury tax penalties due to their limited amount of salary cap space. Expect that to happen, as the franchise looks to capitalize on LeBron’s championship window.

Prediction: Staying

Next: LeBron James