When Kevin Love was bought out by the Cavaliers last week, ending an 8.5 year tenure in Cleveland, the expectation was that he was headed south to Miami, and on Sunday, that move was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski.
After clearing waivers, Kevin Love plans to sign with the Miami Heat, his agent Jeff Schwartz of @Excelbasketball tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/c1Ff4tLfKP
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2023
Love had completely fallen out of the rotation in Cleveland, averaging 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game on 38.9 percent shooting (35.4 percent from three) in the 41 games prior to being removed from the lineup. The 34-year-old power forward is far from the double-double machine he once was, but he will join a Heat team that desperately needs someone capable of playing some minutes at the four, particularly someone who can space the floor.
While defense is an issue, and one of the chief contributors to him exiting the rotation in Cleveland, Miami has plenty of strong defenders but is lacking in the scoring department. They’ll hope Love can give them a bit more shooting from the perimeter and contribute something in the 20 minutes a night range he was playing in Cleveland earlier in the year. As is always the case with the buyout market, this is not a ground-shaking move but a complementary one that the Heat hope can be a bit of a floor raiser as they enter the stretch run of the season 7th in the East at 32-27, but just a half-game behind the Knicks in sixth.