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According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Miami Heat are the “leaders” in the race to sign Kevin Love, after he is bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The Miami Heat have emerged as leaders to sign five-time All-Star Kevin Love after he completes buyout with Cleveland, league sources tell The Athletic,” Charania tweeted. “Interested teams believe Miami’s ability to offer a defined role and playoff positioning are leading factors.”
Back on February 16, Charania originally broke the news that Love was finalizing a contract buyout with the Cavs.
In the initial report, he labeled the Heat as suitors to land the five time All-Star.
“The Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Love are finalizing a contract buyout, with the Miami Heat expected to emerge as a suitor for the five-time All-Star should the sides finalize parting ways, league sources tell The Athletic,” Charania wrote.
Love played in 41 games for Cleveland this season, before he fell out of the rotation in recent weeks. He averaged 8.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 20 minutes per game. On the year, Love has shot 38.9% from the field and 35.4% from beyond the arc.
Many fans were hoping the Heat would land some shooting with size ahead of the deadline, but the buyout addition of Love would most certainly be welcome. He’s got championship experience, winning a title with the Cavs back in 2016, and his ability to shoot the three will hopefully provide some extra space for Bam Adebayo down low.
Cavs Wanted to Block Love From Joining Heat: Report
Should the former UCLA star wind up taking his talents to South Beach, it wouldn’t be exactly what his former team wanted.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst previously reported that the Cavs may have been working to prevent Love from joining the Heat.
During an appearance on the February 17 edition of The Dan Patrick Show Windhorst discussed the NBA buyout market.
He told Patrick that he believed that Cleveland was trying to prevent Love from heading to Miami after a potential buyout.
“Certainly Miami would be a good fit because they need size and shooting,” Windhorst said. “I don’t know if the Cavs are going to allow that as part of the buyout. That’s part of what I think is under discussion.”
Heat Have Spoken to Russell Westbrook: Report
Perhaps the most interesting buyout candidate that’s been linked to the Heat is Russell Westbrook, Love’s UCLA teammate. Westbrook, a former MVP, was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Utah Jazz ahead of the deadline. Since arriving in Utah, there’s been speculation that he’ll be bought out of his contract, though nothing has happened yet.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnorowski recently reported that Miami is one of the teams that have been in contact with Westbrook.
“I’m told that Russell Westbrook has permission from the Jazz to go out and explore with potential buyout teams a role elsewhere that might fit,” Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown. “He and his agent Jeff Schwartz have been spending this week doing that… Among the teams that they’ve communicated with: the (Chicago) Bulls, the (Los Angeles) Clippers, the (Washington) Wizards, the Miami Heat.”
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