Story by the Athletic
Cavs power forward Kevin Love — the last remaining piece of the franchise’s title team — made a formal request for a buyout Wednesday, hours before the team’s loss to the Sixers, the final game before the All-Star break.
Love has spent the last nine seasons of his 15-year NBA career with the Cavaliers, becoming a key part of Cleveland’s 2016 championship run and the unmistakable face of the post-LeBron James era. But the 34-year-old Love battled through a painful thumb injury earlier this season that impacted his performance and was then removed from the team’s every-night rotation shortly after Dean Wade returned from a seven-week absence.
The situation has been difficult on Love, who began telling confidants recently that he was weighing the possibility a buyout, sources say, paving the way for him to become a free agent, find a bigger on-court role elsewhere and join another playoff team.