Kevin Love is a former All-NBA level player who earned a ring and played at the highest level of the game. Now, he’s stuck on a sloppy, often selfish, rebuilding team. Love wanted the big checks and signed up for this, but it doesn’t make him any less frustrated with the over-dribbling of the team’s young guards (witness this play from Saturday night against OKC).
Kevin Love had an emotional verbal outburst directed toward general manager Koby Altman following shootaround on Saturday, expressing his displeasure and disgust with the organization, league sources told The Athletic.
Love was screaming in front of teammates and Cavs coaches and front-office members that there was “no feel here,” league sources said.
Love’s name has come up in trade rumors, and he reportedly wants out of Cleveland, although that four-year, $120 million contract extension Altman gave Love — which has three years remaining — has proved a sticking point. There has been some buzz the deal may get done, but it still is a longshot.
Love has expressed his frustration before. He vented on the bench and punched a chair during a loss to Toronto on New Year’s Eve and, according to Charania, was fined $1,000 internally by the team for that. There were multiple other incidents over the past year.
Love is not the only veteran frustrated with the season and rebuilding process in Cleveland, according to sources. To be fair, Altman also told Love when he offered the extension the plan was to retool on the fly and put together a team that would compete for playoff spots, not rebuild. Everyone else saw LeBron James and Kyrie Irving leave and knew what was coming to Cleveland, but Love wanted those huge game checks.
Love has every right to be frustrated, but he may want to work on his anger management because he may well be riding out the season in Cleveland.