Longtime Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love is working towards a buyout agreement with Cleveland, sources inform Shams Charania and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic.
Love is currently making $28.9M in the final season of a four-year, $120M contract extension he signed with the team in 2018. The deal kicked in the following season.
Per The Athletic’s writers, the Heat are already said to be interested in procuring his services. Given Miami’s issues with floor spacing and lack of traditionally sized power forwards, this would feel like a natural fit.
The 34-year-old big man has been with the Cavaliers since he was traded to the club by the Timberwolves ahead of the 2014-15 NBA season. Love, a five-time All-Star, won a title in Cleveland in 2016, alongside All-Stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. As Charania and Lloyd note, Love was the last remaining player from that title team on an exciting current club that is currently the fourth seed in the East.
The 6-foot-10 vet had fallen out of Cleveland rotation recently. He played what could be his last game for the team on Jan. 24, a 105-103 loss to the Knicks. Even before that, Love had taken more of a backseat to Cleveland’s starting frontcourt tandem of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen this season. Six-foot-seven Cedi Osman has taken on more minutes as the team’s de facto reserve power forward of late.
Across 41 games while still in the team’s rotation, Love posted averages of 8.5 PPG and 6.8 RPG, with shooting splits of .389/.354/.889.
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