Kevin Love Signs Four-Year Extension With Cavaliers
Kevin Love has signed a four-year, $120 million extension with the Cavaliers, the team announced Tuesday. Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com first reported the deal.
With the extension, Love's current deal with Cleveland is now valued at $145 million over the next five seasons.
Love, a five-time All-Star, has been with the Cavaliers since 2014 when he was traded there from the Timberwolves in a three-team deal that also included Andrew Wiggins.
During his four seasons with the Cavaliers, Love has averaged 17.1 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 37.7% from three, and helped the team reach the NBA Finals over the last four seasons and win its first championship in 2016. Over the duration of his 10-year career, Love is averaging 18.3 points and 11.3 rebounds.
Love and general manager Koby Altman announced the deal at Quicken Loans Arena.
During his time in Cleveland, Love has seen his role switch from third option to second option due to Kyrie Irving getting traded, and now, with LeBron James departing this offseason for the Lakers, Love will likely be the focal point of the offense. While Love was in Minnesota for the first six years of his career, he spent a good portion of his time as the team's top option.
In his last four seasons with the Timberwolves, Love averaged at least 20 points three times. The one season he missed the mark was 2012-13 when he only played 18 games due to injury. That was also the only season during that stretch he was not named an All-Star. Love led the league in rebounds in 2010-11 with 15.2 per game, and in his final year in Minnesota, he averaged a career-high 26.1 points to go with 12.5 boards while shooting 37.6% from beyond the arc.
In June, the Cavaliers drafted Alabama guard Collin Sexton with the No. 8 pick. He will likely share a bulk of the scoring load with Love this upcoming season.
