Boston Celtics: Don’t Expect Kevin Love to Leave Cavs
Amid the NBA playoffs, rumors began to swirl, implicating the Boston Celtics as a legitimate landing spot for Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love next season. Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge will now have to explore others ideas because Love shot down those rumors Sunday during a meeting with the media.
“I think he’s going to look around. I think he’s going to look closely at Boston,” Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported earlier in the week.
The Celtics are completely able to offer Love a max contract if he opts out following the Cavaliers NBA Finals showdown with the Golden State Warriors. The Celtics pitch to entice Love into coming to Boston would be their ability to feature him as the top guy on the team and the centerpiece for the foundation of a championship team. It would essentially be the same role he played in Minnesota as the go-to superstar. He was forced to part ways with that role on a team led by LeBron James.
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“I truly expect to be suiting up for Game 1,” Love said Sunday when asked by ESPN’s David McMenamin. When asked if it would be for the Cavaliers, Love replied, “Yes, sir.”
A departure from the Cavaliers would make Love out to look like a player concerned about his personal statistics as opposed to winning. The Celtics are realistically at least a few years off from contending for a title, unless of course Ainge orchestrates moves similar to the ones he made ahead of the 2007 season. Remaining in Cleveland allows him a chance to win now, next season, and many years down the line.
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With that said, I fully expect Love to remain in Cleveland next season and not choose to team up with the Celtics. Cavaliers writer Chris Haynes did report Sunday that Love and Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk have made up following an altercation in Game 7 of their first round series. The incident left Love with an injured shoulder and out for the entirety of the playoffs.
As Love texts with Olynyk regarding the incident, perhaps he’s given Boston some more thought then he’s let on. Only time will tell with this ever-evolving story.