While the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to advance to the 2018 NBA Finals, star big man Kevin Love knew that their time at the top of the NBA’s totem pole was coming to an end.
In fact, Love recently admitted to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic that he knew the Cavs’ title run was coming to an end after the flurry of trades that occurred just before that season’s trade deadline.
“Yes. It did. It really did,” he said when asked if it had felt like an era was coming to an end. “I always had that sense, and then it really felt like it was over come the trade deadline. Once we kind of had an unprecedented number of guys traded at the deadline, that was going to be it.
“Bron (LeBron James) is incredibly smart and heady and kind of feels like he always has things under control and the foresight to look at things. He wanted to know and have some semblance of direction. At that point, we were trying to build for the future.”
Just as the season had ended for each of the three previous years, the Cavs met the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals in 2018. Unfortunately, they were not able to win a second title and ended up falling to the Warriors in a 4-0 sweep.
That summer, James announced that he would be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Love and a dwindling number of other veterans on the Cavs are all that’s left of the dominant teams that managed to advance to four straight NBA Finals and win one championship in the process.
While it may be bittersweet looking back at those days for Love, chances are good he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
