Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love is continuing his focus on the importance of mental health by donating $500,000 to UCLA’s psychology department.
Love, who played collegiately at UCLA, will give the money through the mental health foundation that he created in 2018. The donation will create the Kevin Love Fund Centennial Chair in the school’s psychology department.
A matching donation, along with Love’s offering, will be directed toward UCLA faculty working on the mental health issues that plagued Love: anxiety and depression.
The hope is that the funding will allow for better diagnoses of those concerns. In addition, working on concepts to prevent, treat and destigmatize the problems will be aided by Love’s investment.
The donation comes just one day after Love was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2020 ESPY Awards, in recognition of his efforts to create greater awareness of mental health matters.
In March 2018, Love went public with his own mental health problems in an online article in The Players’ Tribune. It was a move that received widespread praise.
Later that year, Love established his foundation and has continued to advocate for mental health issues.
On the court, Love bounced back from an injury-plagued 2018-19 season that limited him to just 22 games. In 56 games for the Cavaliers this season, Love averaged 17.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
