Sophia Michaels
It’s been a rough year for Kevin Love. The veteran power forward hasn’t put up the kind of gaudy numbers we all know he’s capable of recording, and to make matters worse, he’s spending the end of his prime on a team in the midst of a lengthy rebuild. Add in that there’s been some apparent locker room discord as new head coach John Beilein has gotten used to life in the league and Murphy’s Law has been evident in Cleveland this year.
For Love, this has all been pretty frustrating, something that has been evident on occasion when the Cavs play. In fact, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic both reported that Love’s frustration has boiled over on a few occasions recently. This included Saturday, when the pair brought word of an incident at practice involving Love and general manager Koby Altman.
Kevin Love had an emotional verbal outburst directed toward general manager Koby Altman following shootaround on Saturday, expressing his displeasure and disgust with the organization, league sources told The Athletic.
Love was screaming in front of teammates and Cavs coaches and front-office members that there was “no feel here,” league sources said.
Both reported that Love received a fine of $1,000 for this incident on New Year’s Eve — he apparently was unhappy with “how selfish the first unit was playing” — and at the end of last season, Altman told Love he was going to receive a fine for a run-in they had, to which Love reportedly replied, “Go ahead. I have plenty of money.”
It is completely understandable why Love would feel this way. He knows what it’s like to win a championship, and while he had to have known Cleveland would be in the midst of a rebuild when he signed a contract with the team, things have been brutal so far this season. Some examples, one from earlier in the year against the Sixers, one from Saturday night:
The Athletic reported that Love hasn’t publicly requested a trade despite the fact that he wants one to a contender. Maybe that will come sometime soon, but regardless, any suspicions about him being frustrated with how things are going in the place where he won a ring in 2016 appear to be confirmed.
Written by: Uproxx
