Cleveland Cavaliers big man Kevin Love sent a big message to USA Basketball director Jerry Colangelo after the latter made some unfortunate comments on the player.
The 2016 NBA champion withdrew from the 2021 Team USA, citing he's not at the best level to compete as the reason.
"I am incredibly disappointed to not be heading to Tokyo with Team USA, but you need to be at absolute peak performance to compete at the Olympic level and I am just not there yet," Love said in a statement.
That situation opened the door for Colangelo to make a rude comment on Love. The 81-year-old didn't hold anything back when addressing Love's situation, calling his participation with the team a 'mistake' and more.
“I didn’t think Kevin Love was going to play. I wasn’t even sure he had much left to play,” Colangelo said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “He reached out to us and said he was in shape and said he felt he owed us. And on the basis of that, we’re looking at someone with international experience who at one time was a heck of a rebounder and could still shoot the ball. You know, being like a 12th man on a roster.
“Well, it didn’t work out. He wasn’t in shape. And he was way behind as it turned out. So you move on. Call it a mistake. Call it giving someone an opportunity. Someone who had equity with us.”
This is not a good look for Colangelo, as plenty of fans disagreed with how he handled things. KL heard what the director had to say and took to Instagram to issue a response. He shared a short but direct message, expressing how he feels about all of this.
Unfortunately, things ended this way for Love on Team USA, but sometimes you're not ready for a challenge, and there's nothing wrong with that. The squad is doing fine in Tokyo, winning two straight games after losing the opener against France, dropping hints of what they can do this year.
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