The Cleveland Cavaliers have an extremely young roster going into the 2021-2022 NBA season. This is not out of the ordinary for a team that is or has been rebuilding. The story today is that the Cavs’ veteran big man Kevin Love has been told that the young talent will be playing over him in the coming season.
Kevin Love had an opportunity to increase his trade value this summer as he was invited to play for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics. Unfortunately, Love pulled himself out of team USA before they even left for Tokyo. According to Cavs Nation, “Love has basically no leverage in a possible move away from the Cavs. Instead, Cleveland will need to pay him another $30 million in 2021/22”.
After drafting seven-footer Evan Mobley with the third overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft the Cavs decided to throw Mobley in the starting lineup alongside Jarrett Allen. Love has been injury-prone for years now and when the veteran is on the floor his production is inconsistent.
Kevin Love’s future in Cleveland may be up in the air
Love averaged only 12 points and 7 rebounds in 25 games last season. At this point, Cleveland may be looking to move in a brand new direction with all of their young and skilled players. Hopefully, Kevin Love can embrace his new role with the team and maybe add some scoring off the bench.
Another option for the Cavaliers is buying out Love’s contract if his role off the bench does not go as intended. This would make Love a free agent and give him plenty of options to join another interested team.
Cleveland’s possible starting lineup for the 21-22 NBA season is Darius Garland at point guard, Collin Sexton at shooting guard, Jarrett Allen at the center, Evan Mobley at power forward, and Issac Okoro at small forward.
That is a very young lineup as the oldest player would be Jarrett Allen at 23 years old. Things could be moved around throughout the season due to injury or just new ideas but we will have to wait and see how well this young lineup does against some of the better teams in the league as they do lack experience. Even with that being said the future of Cleveland basketball looks to be exciting.