NBA salary cap exercise: What player would every team amnesty?

Cleveland Cavaliers – Kevin Love

As we quickly transition back to the much easier choices, the Kevin Love contract should have been amnestied before it was even signed. It was a bizarre move by a franchise trying to hold onto their championship core even after they had lost out on LeBron James. Maxing out an aging Love who had never been the Minnesota version of himself in Cleveland seemed desperate at best, completely lost at worst.

Love is due $31.3 million each of the next two years and $29.9 million in 2022-23, when he will be 34. The notion that they signed him long-term thinking he would be easier to trade than when he was an expiring contract is baffling.

Love is deteriorating as a defender and is struggling with health issues. His attitude in Cleveland has been less than ideal and well-publicized. His rebounding percentage dropped from 19.3 percent to 15.5 percent. Second-chance points, something that used to be a hallmark of his offense, dropped to 1.8 per game. It would improve the franchise as a whole if they went their separate ways.

Should they move on from him now they would only have one player making more than $12 million next year in Andre Drummond. The following season Larry Nance would be the highest-paid Cav at $11.7 million. This team desperately needs flexibility to build around its plethora of young, project guards Dropping down to a payroll of $79.4 million makes that much easier.