Cleveland Cavaliers Sent Major Warning Amid Kevin Love Return Rumors

As a second apron team, the Cleveland Cavaliers are on the hunt for talent they can add on budget deals. Because of the myriad restrictions that come from being over that daunting threshold, the Cavs can only sign players to veterans minimum deals moving forward, unless they do some creative roster maneuvering to duck back under.

The good news for Cleveland is that a viable option might be opening up soon who could help bolster their frontcourt depth, and it's someone with plenty of experience and veteran savvy. Recently, the league saw a three-team deal that sent John Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers, Norman Powell to the Miami Heat, and Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, and a 2027 second-round pick via LA to the Utah Jazz.

From first glance, it appears that Love's inclusion in that deal was simply as a salary piece to make the financials work. At least, that's what the 17-year pro himself thinks.

On top of the fact that Utah is a young rebuilding team that has little need for an aging veteran in the twilight of his career, NBA insider Jake Fischer posted on Twitter that he believes that Kevin Love is an obvious buyout candidate for the Jazz. If that's the case, a return to the Cavaliers would make perfect sense. Love won a championship in Cleveland and could meaningfully contribute to a title contender that had to rely on Dean Wade and Tristan Thompson for backup big minutes in these past playoffs.

Not everyone is super enthused by the idea of a reunion between Love and the Cavs, though. Hoops Wire's Sam Amico certainly isn't very hopeful that it'll be a good fit:

"If you remember, Love’s tenure in Cleveland didn’t end well. He was upset about not playing under former coach J.B. Bickerstaff. I also heard he got into it at least once with president of basketball operations Koby Altman. More importantly, Love isn’t much of an NBA contributor these days. If I’m the Cavs, I’m not bringing him back for sentimental reasons alone — and frankly, that’s the only reason they would."

To Amico's credit, Love played very sparingly last season, averaging just 5.3 points on an atrocious 36 percent shooting from the field in just over 250 total minutes. On the plus side, he still managed to grab over four rebounds and dish out one assist in 10 minutes per outing, and he hit nearly 36 percent of his triples, too. It's not inconceivable that he could have some truly impactful positive moments for a team that only needs limited contributions from him, like the Cavs.