CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly are looking to make deals ahead of Thursday’s NBA Trade Deadline, but one of their most established players and a cornerstone on their 2016 NBA Championship team is not likely to be on the move.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavaliers are expecting power forward Kevin Love to be with the team for the balance of the 2019-2020 season.
“Cleveland is resigned right now that there is no trade for them between now and Thursday,” Wojnarowski said on The Woj Pod Sunday. “Unless something comes out of nowhere, essentially they will be looking in the offseason.”
Currently, Love is in his sixth season with the Cavaliers after being traded to Cleveland by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2014, which helped create a “super team” with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
During the summer of 2018, Love signed a long-term contract extension worth $120 million over four years. Following the 2019-2020 season, Love will have three years remaining on his pact with the Cavaliers.
Love is due the balance of $28.9 million this season, as well as $31.2 million in both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. During the final year of the deal, Love is expected to make $28.9 million, meaning anyone who trades for him now would pick up more than $100 million in salary over the next three-plus seasons.
Limited to just 22 games during the 2018-2019 season because of injury, Love averaged 17.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting .385/.361/.904 from the field, three-point range and free-throw line, respectively, but has turned things around in 2019-2020.
Over 43 starts with the Cavaliers, Love has averaged 17.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists over 31.1 minutes per game, while shooting .452/.379/.846 from the field, three-point range and free-throw line, respectively.
Love has improved his points per game, shooting percentage from the field and three-point percentage from last season to this year.
In 336 regular-season games over six seasons with the Cavaliers, Love has averaged 17.2 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.7 steals per outing while averaging 31.0 minutes per outing and shooting .432 from the field, as well as .376 from three-point range and .847 at the free-throw line.
The Cavaliers are 13-37 heading into tonight’s game against the New York Knicks at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. Currently, the Cavaliers are tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference and just two games in back of the Golden State Warriors for the lowest win total in the entire NBA.