MIAMI, FLA- As reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Miami Heat have officially signed free agent forward Kevin Love, who was waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week. In addition to this, the Heat are finalizing plans to sign free agent Cody Zeller, which is expected to occur before team practice resumes in Miami after the 2023 All-Star break. The aforementioned signing of Love with Miami will end a successful but sour nine-season tenure in Cleveland.
As part of a three-team trade that included 2014 No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins, Love made a seamless transition from Minnesota to Cleveland, averaging 31.1 MPG, 17.2 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 0.7 SPG while shooting 43.3% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range in 349 games (348 starts) from 2014-2019. In addition, Love earned two All-Star team nominations in 2016 and 2017, while also had a significant role in helping Cleveland secure their first NBA championship and end their 52-year pro sports championship drought.
Based on his excellent play, Cleveland signed Love to a four-year, $120 million contract extension on July 24th, 2018, keeping Love under team control until the 2022-2023 season. As it would turn out, the Cavaliers would part ways with Love earlier than expected, based on poor play and internal conflict with the organization.
With the emergences of 2021-2022 All-Rookie First-Team selection Evan Mobley and 2021-2022 All-Star Jarrett Allen, Love has seen a major dip in his playing time with Cleveland this season, averaging a career-low 20.0 MPG and three starts in 41 games. As a result of this, Love has endured one of the worst statistical seasons of his career, averaging a career-low 8.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.9 APG on 38.9%/35.4%/88.9% shooting splits.
“It’s a conversation that we’ve had with him, just trying to figure out what’s the right thing to do,” Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff told reporters. “We tried the small minutes, but to get guys burn I just didn’t like the way that it looked, and guys couldn’t catch a rhythm. So, trying to give guys both minutes to see if they can catch a rhythm and get the groups can catch a rhythm. And then, we’ll figure out the best pieces around it.”
In spite of his aforementioned struggles this season, numerous teams were reportedly interested in signing Love following his contract buyout with Cleveland, as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Miami were all logical destinations for the 34-year-old forward. Ultimately, Love decided to join Miami, and will likely play a sizable role in the Heat’s frontcourt rotation as they attempt to improve ahead of the 2023 Eastern Conference playoffs.
“It would give us another vet, another guy who’s been through the playoffs, another guy who knows what it takes to win and get to where we want to go,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said of Love.
At the 2023 All-Star break, Miami is 32-27 and 7th in the Eastern Conference, and are just 0.5 games back of New York, who holds the final playoff spot. If Miami is unable to finish as a top-six team in the Eastern Conference, the Heat may need to win multiple games in the Play-In tournament to secure a playoff series.
The signing of Love should certainly help Miami accomplish this goal, as the Heat have severely lacked consistent play from their big men all season long. For reference, Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon, and Orlando Robinson were the only players capable of playing the center position on Miami’s roster, although Dedmon is now in Philadelphia following a buy-out with Miami at the 2023 trade deadline.
By waving Dedmon, however, Miami opened up two roster spots, one of which was used to sign Love. As previously mentioned, the Heat are working with Zeller to join Love in Miami, which should only make them better ahead of the 2023 playoffs. As an eight-year NBA veteran, Zeller has had consistent production for Charlotte and Portland, averaging 22.5 MPG, 8.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 1.4 APG while shooting 52.0% from the field and 73.1% from the free-throw line.