Lakers Rumors: LA Among Top Landing Spots For Kevin Love Via Buyout Market
Longtime Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love is reportedly on the cusp of reaching a buyout agreement for the rest of his expiring $28.9 million contract this season with the Cavs. The Miami Heat are said to have interest in bringing him on for the 2022-23 season's home stretch, as are the totally revamped Phoenix Suns.
Would your Los Angeles Lakers, who have now shored up their frontcourt depth considerably (in addition to a lot of the rest of their rotation), be interested in re-teaming K-Love with his former Cleveland teammate LeBron James?
According to Joseph Zucker of Bleacher Report, LA could prove to be an ideal destination for Love.
As Zucker notes, the 6'8" vet, a five-time All-Star, could operate as a key sharpshooting reserve big man at either the power forward or center spot. Zucker envisions Love as being capable of fulfilling the role occupied by Markieff Morris (also added via the buyout market once upon a time) during LA's 2019-20 championship run.
A down year for Love this season has yielded career lows in minutes (20 per), points (8.5 on .389/.354/.889 shooting splits), and rebounds (6.8). He has been forced out of Cleveland's rotation for the club's last 12 contests, during which the Cavaliers have gone 9-3. But he could still prove useful to another team as a key sharpshooting reserve who isn't counted on to do too much. He could fit in LA, sure, but how many minutes would he really get, with backups like Mo Bamba and Rui Hachimura presumably getting precedent?
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