Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 players with the most to prove this season

1. Kevin Love

It has been five years since Kevin Love was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. A successful four-year stretch in which Love helped aid in the franchises only championship victory was enough to earn Love a long-term extension with the team. But, was this a good decision for Cleveland?

At the time, Love was signed with the hopes that he could lead the Cavaliers to at least a playoff berth. Before taking a more reserved role with the Cavaliers, Love was a borderline superstar in Minnesota.

With LeBron James and Kyrie Irving gone, many hoped Love could return to that level of play.

Sadly, we didn’t get an answer to that question last year. It only took a few games for Love to fall with a foot injury that held him out for a majority of the season. When he did return, he played limited minutes on a team that had already gone off of the deep end.

In the small sample size that we got of healthy Love, he averaged 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds across four games in March. These numbers are solid, but should be taken with a grain of salt due to his history of injuries.

There is no doubt in my mind that Love is still an All-Star caliber player. However, he has missed 20 or more games in each of the last three seasons, leaving doubt that he will ever be able to manage a heavy load for the length of an entire season.

If Love wants to prove himself as a true star, he will need to remain healthy.

At the very least, Love needs to play long enough for the Cavaliers to find a suitable trading partner for Love. It would hurt to part ways with him, but allowing Love to play his final years as a supporting star to a championship contending team might be the best outcome.