Kevin Love was always known as the odd man out with the Cavs but now that LeBron James is gone, Love has his own team again. Love was one of the nastiest big men in the league leading the NBA on two separate occasions in rebounding when he was able to mean mug defenders in the post. With LeBron in town, Love was nothing more than a catch and shoot guy in the corner. Now Love is back and getting paid like the guy he was in Minnesota. With just one-year remaining on his contract, Love and the Cavs have come together to sign a contract extension. Love signs a 4-year deal to stay with the Cavs worth $120 million. The new deal gets tacked on to his existing deal bringing the total to five-years worth $145.
The ESPN duo of Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst were the first to report the news:
ESPN reporting with @WindhorstESPN: Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension — topping out his overall deal at five-years, $145 million, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 24, 2018
Woj also had more to say on the state of the Cavs franchise and their motivation to get this deal done:
“The Cavaliers arranged an impromptu signing ceremony for Love at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Tuesday, where team employees and arena construction workers would witness Love signing his deal, league sources said.
In the aftermath of LeBron James’ departure in free agency to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavaliers aggressively pushed to secure Love, 29, for the long-term. Owner Dan Gilbert and GM Koby Altman have been determined to keep the Cavaliers a playoff team, and that plan included keeping Love out of free agency in 2019.”
Love, 29, has made the All-Star team on five occasions and has averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds over the course of his 10-year career. It’s going to be interesting to see if Love can at least lead the Cavs back to the playoffs in what is a weak Eastern Conference. Collin Sexton might realistically be this team’s second best player so he will have to carry a boatload of the workload.
