Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Everybody calm down. I can’t stress this enough.
Kevin Love has officially opted out of the final year of his deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite him repeatedly saying he plans on returning to the team next year, Love will be a free agent next month, forcing the Cavs to have to try and woo him into re-signing. Everyone who said Love was going to leave is now pointing at this news and getting their “told you so” statements ready.
However, my suggestion to Cleveland fans would be to just keep re-reading the opening sentence and take some deep breaths. Why? Well, in no uncertain terms, if there’s anyone who isn’t surprised by this news, it’s the Cavs.
Now, I’m not going to come here and say “Love WILL be a Cavalier next year” or any other guarantee. Even though I’ve gone on about Love’s continued statements of commitment to Cleveland for a while now, the chance of him leaving is still there.
At the same time, I repeat; Love’s opt out is not a bombshell to Cleveland. Nobody in the front office saw this and began flipping out. In fact, GM David Griffin already noted he expected opt outs across the board with anyone on the roster who could do so.
So, when the news of Love’s opt out broke today, you know Griffin wasn’t thrown off. And, you also know the Cavs are preparing to work on a new deal for Love.
Remember, just because Love opted out of his deal doesn’t mean he is telling the Cavs he wants out. At the end of the day, none of the teams reportedly interested in him came as close to a title as Cleveland did last year. And, more importantly, none of the interested teams can pay him as much as Cleveland can, either.
Again, despite all of this, there’s still obviously a chance Love leaves. His being a free agent now will mean anyone can swoop in and make their pitch to him. Zach Lowe of Grantland has claimed sources have told him a possibility of a sign-and-trade is also definitely realistic.
That said, today’s opt out doesn’t imply anything in terms of which way Love is leaning. It doesn’t indicate he’s sticking with the Cavs, but it also doesn’t indicate he’s guaranteed to move on. At the end of the day, it’s simply an opt out, nothing more, nothing less.
Most importantly, it’s an opt out Cleveland was anticipating. If this was something which threw them off guard, yes, you could see this as reason to be nervous if you’re a Cavs fan. But, the team expected this, which certainly implies they have a plan in place.
Cleveland fans should keep this in mind in the days leading up to Love’s official free agency. Regardless of what you may read, today’s news in no way implies Love is definitely on the way out. He may end up leaving, sure, but there’s no reason to freak out about such a thing until something significant starts building up with another team.
His opt out today doesn’t qualify as such a thing.
Casey Drottar is the Cleveland Beat Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook
