Report: Dwyane Wade, not Isaiah Thomas, fired first shots at Kevin Love in Cavs’ team meeting

This much we know for sure: In a Jan. 22 clear-the-air team meeting, a number of Cavaliers players called out Kevin Love. He had left a nationally televised blowout loss two nights before because he didn’t feel well, missed practice on the following day, and teammates had no idea what had happened. Not knowing why he left (or wasn’t in the locker room after the game), they questioned his commitment to the team. Love eventually explained himself and, at least relatively, smoothed things over.

The early reports were that Isaiah Thomas had led those attacks.

Or not. Now Joe Varden of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports it was Dwyane Wade who fired the first shots.

Yes, Thomas was upset that Kevin Love went home with an illness before a 24-point loss to Oklahoma City had concluded on Jan. 20, and that he was not at practice the following day. But, sources said, it was Wade who first made an issue of it on Monday, challenging Lue to disclose where Love had been. Numerous players verbally attacked Love, who eventually explained his absence as part of a wide-ranging, heated discussion in which virtually no one was immune from criticism.

First off, it’s all moot as Wade and Thomas were shipped out at the trade deadline (to the betterment of the team). Also, does it matter who brought up the Love issue first if a lot of guys piled on? Clearly, the issue was a lack of communication with the team, far from the first time that has happened in Cleveland.

The more interesting question: Who leaked the two versions of the story, and why? Who wanted to make Thomas look bad in the locker room and like an issue that needed to be dealt with before the trade deadline? Who now feels the need to take a shot at Wade since he’s out the door? I could speculate, but draw your own conclusions. It’s not that hard to connect the dots.