The Los Angeles Lakers have been urged to reunite five-time All-Star Kevin Love with LeBron James. Love and James were teammates for four seasons on the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning a championship together in 2016.
Love, on an expiring contract of $4.1 million, was traded by the Miami Heat to the Utah Jazz this offseason, as part of the John Collins trade also involving the LA Clippers.
The 36-year-old forward is widely expected to be bought out by the Jazz, a team expected to tank the 2025-26 season with sights on a high lottery pick. If and when he’s bought out, Love intends to join a “big glamour market,” per NBA insider Jake Fischer.
“So with Kevin Love, to my understanding, he really only wants to be in the big glamour markets,” Fischer told Bleacher Report. “I do think it would mostly be something along the lines of Kevin Love going to a New York or a Los Angeles type of situation. So, we’ll see if that can materialize for him.”
Love, LeBron Share Close Bond
In light of Fischer’s report, many fans urged the Lakers to sign Love.
“Come get this ring wit bron,” one fan said, via Yahoo Sports.
“Bron and KLove teaming back up,” another fan predicted.
“Lakers could be a natural fit,” a third fan urged.
“Former UCLA Bruin… needs to come back to LA and join the Lakers & Bron,” said another fan on X.
“Come to the Lakers big bro,” said another Lakers fan.
Both Love and James have spoken extensively about the bond they developed during their years together as Cleveland Cavaliers teammates, which extended to their time outside the court. In February 2023, Love penned down a heartfelt letter reminscing over his time with James in Cleveland.
“I feel so fortunate my career intersected with LeBron’s,” he wrote.
“Everybody that he touches, especially if you have that opportunity to be within his orbit or his gravitational pull, whether it’s covering him as a media member or me playing with him in very special years, especially here and because of what he means to Northeast Ohio, that is definitely something that is not lost on me.”
Last Season with the Lakers?
Love also said that getting traded to the Cavaliers in 2015 helped him “understand sacrifice” and “become a better teammate,” a lesson he thanked James for.
Once James departed from the Cavaliers for the Lakers in 2019, Love remained in Cleveland, to the shock of many. Thereafter, he found a home with the Miami Heat, where he spent the last two-and-a-half seasons of his waning career.
A James-Love reunion would be fitting since “The King” may be departing from Los Angeles after the 2025-26 season. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers prefer to let James walk after his expiring contract comes off the books.
James’ agent, Rich Paul, has also hinted at his client potentially leaving Los Angeles to retire elsewhere. James turned heads recently when he was seen hanging out with Nikola Jokic’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, in France.
Raznatovic wrote on Instagram, “The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026!”
The post fueled speculation that James might join Jokic in Denver.
Lakers Urged to Reunite LeBron James With 5-Time All-Star