The Cleveland Cavaliers should consider buying a Kevin Love contract

If one word could sum up Kevin Love ‘s season with the Cleveland Cavaliers this year, it would be one word: injury. Ever since Love signed his four-year, $ 120 million expansion with Cleveland, which began in the 2019-20 season, injury is the best way to summarize how things are going. dol. Since signing that expansion, Love has only appeared in 82 games over three seasons. That means Love has made about $ 1.03 million per game over the past three seasons and $ 7.8 million per game this year alone.

There will still be $ 60.2 million over the next two seasons to go for both Love and the Cavaliers. That’s a ton of money for a player who would be extremely useful to any team in the league but can’t stay healthy. That’s why Cleveland seems to have struggled to find a trading partner to take over Love and his raspberry deal. Despite being called for an All-Star and NBA Champion trade last year, nothing has yet emerged on the market for the Cavaliers. With permission, things could change and Love could put together a series of healthy games that promote its trade value. However, until he can stay healthy, Love is likely to be stuck on Cleveland ‘s roster.

“Kevin Love is a good player who makes too much money and is injured too often,” said one official at the Western Conference. “If he can’t put together a series of fruitful and healthy games, it’s hard for a general manager to trade for an owner.”

That is unless the Cavaliers agree to a purchase contract with Love and his agent. Buying player contracts has become a very common practice in today’s NBA, with Blake Griffin and the Detroit Pistons being the latest example of this. According to sources, Griffin recovered approximately $ 13 million of the nearly $ 75 million owed to him during the 2021-22 season. However, that $ 13 million will still count against Pistons salary cap. With this in mind, Detroit, which is in the middle of a rebuild, will have $ 37.8 million against its salary cap this season and $ 38.9 million against the cap next season. Yes, the cost of Griffin’s cut is important for the Pistons but cap space is also meaningless when rebuilding – especially as a team in a small market.

When it comes to the Cleveland and Love situation, at the same time, he could take a similar approach to Detroit and Griffin, especially after Love was lost again with the calf injury aige. If Love can come back for about 10 or 15 games for the Cavaliers this season and play well, Cleveland may be able to trade for the upcoming offseason. While the price for the 32-year-old is steep, Love has a skill set that works beautifully in today’s NBA and would make any competitor better for it.

However, there is reason to doubt what can happen for Love this year because of that recurrent calf injury that has been postponed for the better part of the season. If Love can’t play, the Cavaliers have to approach him and his rep on a purchase deal. In all honesty, they could come to Griffin-like contracts. That means Cleveland would be on the books for $ 60.2 million over the next two seasons which, again, doesn’t mean much while in rebuilding. Or the Cavaliers could extend Love’s contract over the next five seasons at about $ 12 million per quarter if they want to maintain salary flexibility.

For Love, this would allow him to spend the rest of his NBA career playing for a tournament competitor either as a starter or off the bench. Considering how bad he has been, his remaining years in the NBA might be worth the weight in gold. According to sources, the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks are interested in acquiring Love’s talents. If Cleveland were bought out, all of these teams would taste options to sign Love with them and let him compete for a contest.

For Cleveland, meanwhile, buying out the rest of Love’s deal is partly about getting it right with the former All-Star. Love was vital to the team that won their first tournament in 2016 and should be allowed to play for ongoing tournaments. However, the Cavaliers can also Larry Nance Jr. to start at the four long intervals, something that was only a matter of time. Nance is a jack of all trades, a master of gin for Cleveland and is an anchor at each end of the floor. Dropping Love also allows the Cavaliers to open up additional roster space as well. With three points in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft, Cleveland could take on a project player to improve with that extra space.

Getting a unified Nance, while prioritizing the future, should be Cleveland’s main goal going forward. That means saying goodbye to Love one way or another. This is no disrespect for Love, mind you. His sweater will one day hang in a Cleveland purse. However, the team must prioritize the future and Love is not part of that vision going forward. A net break for both sides is needed for that to happen and that is why buying makes sense if trade does not.