After parts of three seasons with the Miami Heat, Kevin Love was traded as part of the deal that netted the Heat Norman Powell. And while no one would argue that Love, 36, is better than Powell at the current stages of their careers, one of Love’s former teammates expressed dissatisfaction at how the trade went down.
In the deal, Love, along with Kyle Anderson and a second-round pick, was acquired by the Utah Jazz, who sent John Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers, who shipped Powell to Miami. Love, who joked afterward that he was “a math problem” in the trade, was effectively that — a relatively small part to help complete the larger three-team puzzle.
Still, Channing Frye, one of Love’s former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates and a close, personal friend, did not like one aspect of the trade.
“I will say this: my understanding was that Kevin was going to be that next guy for Miami, right? … The next guy, the next UD (Udonis Haslem), the next guy that was keeping that locker room — to have a great locker room, your 15th guy, your number one guy, your coach, your GM, your owner need to be on the same page. They need to buy into what you’re selling. And Kevin was bought in a thousand percent in Miami,” Frye said on the ‘Road Trippin’ podcast. “Now, do things happen? Yes. But I think when you’re telling somebody at that age, ‘Hey, we want you here,’ this and that, you’ve got to give them a call to explain like, ‘Hey, here’s why you’re going here. Here’s our thought process.’ Just that level of respect. It’s not like it would’ve changed anything, but the communication is what I didn’t appreciate necessarily from that thing.”
Love has played 17 seasons in the NBA, and until Monday, had only been traded once before; in 2014, he was famously dealt by the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Cleveland Cavaliers for, among other players and picks, No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins. He won a championship with the Cavs two years later alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, as well as ‘Road Trippin’ co-hosts Frye and Richard Jefferson.
In February 2023, Love and the Cavs agreed to a contract buyout, and he shortly thereafter joined the Heat, who reached the NBA Finals in his first season with the team. Love has averaged increasingly less playing time in his three seasons with Miami; after averaging 19.9 minutes per game in 2023, he played 16.8 minutes in 2023-24, and 10.9 this past season, which included the death of his father, Stan, in April.
Kevin Love is expected to be bought out by the Jazz, which would enable him to sign essentially anywhere. Frye, though, said he would prefer to see Love end up with either the Portland Trail Blazers (Love’s hometown team), the New York Knicks, where Love primarily lives, or return to the Cavs.
