76ers Rumors: Kevin Love Plans to ‘Talk’ to Philly After Buyout
The Cleveland Cavaliers and veteran forward Kevin Love have decided to part ways. Following the Cavaliers’ Wednesday night matchup against the Sixers, reports indicated that the Cavaliers were working on a contract buyout with Love.
On Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the buyout was complete. Now, Love is set to hit the free agency market. While the Miami Heat are frontrunners and potentially the favorites to net Love via free agency, Wojnarowski reports that he’ll consider the Sixers.
This season, Love has appeared in 41 games for the Cavs, drawing three starts. In those matchups, he averaged 20 minutes on the floor. This year, Love has put up nine points per game while coming down with seven rebounds per game. From the field, he’s knocking down 39 percent of his shots. And from deep, Love has hit on 35 percent of his shots on five attempts per game.
While Love is a valuable veteran with championship experience for a playoff-contending team, he's fallen out of favor in Cleveland throughout the year.
Love could certainly help fill a need for the Sixers as a veteran reserve, but the Sixers currently do not have an open roster spot. Meanwhile, the interested Miami Heat have room to take on Love without making any follow-up moves.
In Philly, Love would compete with Georges Niang for minutes behind guys like PJ Tucker and Tobias Harris at the forward spot. Offensively, Georges Niang brings a lot of value to the Sixers’ bench as a stellar three-point shooter by knocking down his shots from beyond the arc at a 41 percent clip.
However, his defensive value was questioned throughout Philly’s playoff run last season, although it’s necessary to note that Niang was battling an injury during the postseason.
The veteran free agent could also compete for Philly's backup five spot, which is crowded with Paul Reed, Montrezl Harrell, and the newly-signed Dewayne Dedmon.
Love would boost Philly’s title odds, but he might find more of a significant role for himself with the Heat.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
