On Wednesday, the first official day of free agency, one of the biggest names on the market did exactly as many expected he would.
USA TODAY is reporting that forward Kevin Love has agreed to five-year extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers worth $108.9 million. The actual figure could actually go higher depending on what happens with the salary cap next season.
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At around the same time, Love also confirmed his impending return to Cleveland in a first-person post on Derek Jeter’s site The Players’ Tribune, saying in part he feels like he still has work to do there.
"“Yeah, of course I’ve heard the free agency rumors. But at the end of the day, and after meeting with my teammates (it turns out pools are great meeting places) and with the front office, it was clear Cleveland was the place for me. We’re all on the same page and we’re all in. We have unfinished business and now it’s time to get back to work.”"
Last season Love played in 75 games and averaged 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in his first season with LeBron James and the Cavaliers after six years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his first ever appearance in the NBA playoffs he averaged 14.3 points, 7 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in four games before his postseason was cut short due to dislocating his left shoulder in the Cavaliers series against the Boston Celtics.
Many teams were planning to try to convince Love to leave Cleveland, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Celtics, but it would appear they were wasting their time. Love said as early as before the end of last season that he planned to remain with the Cavaliers and he ultimately decided to follow through on that promise.
If you need an explanation why, it is as simple as winning.
After six fruitless seasons with the Timberwolves, Love wants an NBA Championship ring, plain and simple. When he originally signed with Cleveland that was the reason he gave: to win a championship. He felt being on the hardwood with arguably the best basketball player on the planet would give him the best odds of accomplishing just that.
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It can be argued that if Love had remained healthy, there is a very good chance that the Cavaliers would have finally ended Cleveland’s very long championship drought. James almost managed to do it all by himself, but just ran out of gas at the end just when Stephen Curry was getting red hot. If Love and point guard Kyrie Irving hadn’t of been hurt, no can say definitively that the Golden State Warriors would have emerged from the NBA Finals victorious.
None of that has changed. If Love really wants to win, his best odds of doing that are to remain in Cleveland. No other NBA team could have given him better odds to head to the NBA Finals and said it with a straight face (certainly not the Lakers). With a year of playing together under their collective belt and a better sense of chemistry and what each other is capable of, the Cavaliers with James, Love and Irving on the floor are easily the team to beat during the 2015-16 NBA season.
Kevin Love want to win and he wants to win bad. Lucky for him, the Cleveland Cavaliers all feel the exact same way.
Next: 50 Greatest NBA Players Without a Championship
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