Cavaliers’ Kevin Love Under Fire After Handing 3-Pointer to Raptors

Kevin Love is clearly not happy with what’s going on with the Cleveland Cavaliers. On Monday night, Love committed one of the most brutal turnovers of the season when he batted the ball inbounds to none of his teammates after the official passed him the ball. The Raptors quickly gained on the ball and scored an easy three-point shot.

Fans immediately went to Twitter to react to Love’s poor decision. “If he was trying to get it to the refs, he should have spoken with the ref after and told and them that,” one fan wrote. “But he just walked away cause he don’t care anymore.” Another fan added: Why doesn’t he retire if he hates the game? So disrespectful and entitled.

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Love apologized for the incident, and the team will handle the matter internally. However, this isn’t the first time Love has expressed his frustration on the court. Last year, Love got any with Collin Sexton for holding on the ball too long. And as soon as he got it, he threw a laser to Cedi Osman to prove a point, as mentioned by CBS Sports. Love, 32, has been with the Cavaliers since 2014 after spending his first six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the team in 2018 after LeBron James left to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

Love helped the team win the NBA Finals in 2016 and has played in the championship series four times with the Cavaliers. But after James left, the Cavaliers have struggled, winning only 19 games the previous two seasons. Cleveland has a 21-40 record this season and likely won’t make the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

In 2018, Love spoke on the Today Show about his battles with anxiety. “For us, it was always, ‘Keep your chin up,’” Love said per Bleacher Report. “Which is fine, but don’t suppress your feelings. Don’t bury them because eventually, that’s going to add up and it’s going to surface in one way or another. For me, it was rage fits or going dark for a few weeks and staying in my room after basketball practice and not talking to anybody and not getting much done.”