Cleveland Cavaliers: A Kevin Love buyout is only a matter of time

A Kevin Love buyout is likely only a matter of time for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It used to be unheard of that a max player could be bought out with years remaining on their contract. Now, the amnesty clause allowed this to happen in droves, and the stretch provision has also allowed this to happen to an extent. The idea of a multi-year buyout for a max contract has always been rare, however.

Stephan Marbury famously was away from the New York Knicks for some time, he was eventually bought out and went on to have a cup of coffee with the Boston Celtics. Marbury then left the US for China, where he became a legend in their league.

It’s becoming ever more prevalent for a rebuilding team to sit older players with massive contracts. Hoping that retaining that asset could eventually lead to obtaining more picks or younger players through trade.

More from Sir Charles In Charge

• Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
• NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
• Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
• Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
• NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24

Andre Iguodala never intended to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, but was later dealt to the Miami Heat.  The Oklahoma City Thunder essentially told Al Horford to take time off as OKC was afraid he may help them win too many games last season – he was ultimately traded to Boston this offseason.

Social media was on fire when news broke that the Detroit Pistons would buy out the last 1.5 years of Blake Griffin’s contract (Griffin gave back $13 million of the $75 million remaining) last year. Somehow, overnight, Griffin went from washed to an unfair addition to the Brooklyn Nets.

It does not seem unrealistic that Kevin Love will follow this path. Love is now in the latter stage of his career. Love will be 33 when the new season starts. Love has shown a lot of indifference with the Cleveland Cavaliers rebuild.

Famously this past season, toward the end of a game he intentionally tossed the ball out of bounds in frustration. Additionally, Love has missed over 50 games in two of the past three seasons.

How should the Cleveland Cavaliers handle the Kevin Love situation?

There is no solution that makes either party happy. Kevin Love does not want to be on a bad team. And Cleveland is likely over the idea of having him as an integral part of the team’s build.

Add this to the widely known lack of trade market for an often injured former All-Star making 30-plus million a year, it seems that Love could become Griffin 2.0.

As he is widely regarded as overpaid and possibly an injury risk if Love were available post-buyout, a contender could scoop him up for only the minimum. That would make him a very low-risk but high-reward player.

Love can still be effective even in a limited role. His per 36 min averages show he is still an impressive rebounder, and his 3-point percentage has remained over 36 percent the past three years. Many contenders would jump at the chance to have an effective rebounder and 3-point shooter on their bench.

It would almost sound like madness to suggest a team would eat almost $70 million dollars in salary even just three years ago. Now it seems like a pattern where if a team can not trade an older overpaid player, they just buy them out to cut their losses. We shouldn’t be asking “when is Kevin Love going to be bought out?” We should be asking “where is Kevin Love going to be playing?” once he is bought out.