Veteran forward Kevin Love ended his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers last week when the two sides agreed to a contract buyout.
According to a recent report, it looks like Love left some money on the table in order to facilitate the deal.
Kevin Love gave up $1.5M in his buyout from the Cleveland Cavaliers, a league source tells @spotrac.
Presumably, Love will make that up in his contract with the Miami Heat.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 21, 2023
Love was in the final year of a four-year, $120 million deal that he signed following LeBron James’ departure for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Cavs seemed to regret their decision to sign Love to that long-term deal almost immediately, and trade rumors involving the former All-Star seemed to pop up whenever possible.
However, the two sides ultimately managed to stick it out, and Love got to see the post-James rebuild really come to an end over the 2022 offseason.
Indeed, the blockbuster deal for Donovan Mitchell helped signal the end of that rebuild, as the Cavs are now once again considered among the best teams in the league. To make matters more exciting, the team is led by a core of some really young players.
Love, of course, was not among those youngsters, and at 34 years old, it seemingly became clear that he wasn’t fitting in with what the team was trying to do on the court. His playing time seemed to trend downward as the season progressed, and he was ultimately removed from the team’s rotation.
Now, he’ll begin a new chapter of his storied NBA career with the Miami Heat. The Heat have been in desperate need of solid play at the power forward position, and it seems possible that Love will at least get the chance to earning a starting role with the team.
It will be interesting to see if the last month off the court has helped refresh the former first-round pick a bit. If Love can perform even half as well as he once did during his prime years, the Heat will be getting a really fantastic player.
All in all, Love will likely go down as one of the more beloved players in Cavs history. He stuck with the organization through thick and thin and played a major role in helping the Cavs win a championship in 2016.
It’s already been reported that his No. 0 jersey will eventually be retired by the franchise.
