- Kevin Love
- HT/WT: 62.03 m, 133 kg
- Birthdate: 7/9/1988 (24)
- College: UCLA
- Draft Info: 2008: rd 1, pk 5 (MEM)
- Status: Active
American basketball player Kevin Wesley Love is a power forward for the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Before joining the Cavs, he played professionally for the Minnesota Timberwolves and has represented the United States as a basketball player for the United States national team.
Although being a great rebounder and classified as a power forward, Love has the versatility to affect the game from outside the paint, thanks to his shooting abilities. His career has been a tremendous commodity on the floor because of his adaptability.
Table of Contents
KEVIN LOVE BASKETBALL CAREER
High School Career: Lake Oswego High School
Kevin Love began his basketball career at Oregon’s Lake Oswego High School. Love received recognition as a five-star recruit and was voted the Gatorade male high school athlete of the year during his four-year tenure with the Lake Oswego Lakers.
When he graduated from high school, Love was the all-time highest scorer in Oregon boy’s high school basketball history. Love decided to play collegiate basketball at UCLA.
Career in College: UCLA Bruins
Love only spent one season at UCLA, but he made the most of it by earning Pac-10 Player of the Year and first-team All-American accolades in his rookie year. Love, who scored and quickly grabbed rebounds, averaged a double-double in his lone season as a Bruin, scoring 17.5 points per game and pulling down 10.6 boards a game.
In Love’s lone season with the squad, UCLA advanced to the Final Four before falling to the Memphis Tigers in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. Before falling to eventual champion Kansas in the final game, Memphis had not dropped a game all season. Love, regarded as one of the top talents entering the professional ranks in 2008, revealed after the season that he would be joining the NBA Draft.
NBA Career
The Minnesota Timberwolves chose Kevin Love as the fifth overall choice in the 2008 NBA Draft. OJ Mayo, the third overall pick, was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Love during an NBA Draft day transaction between the Wolves and Memphis Grizzlies. After all, was said and done, the Timberwolves won that deal because Love was a five-time All-Star in his career.
In 2008, Kevin Love made his NBA debut when he played against the Sacramento Kings. He finished that game with 12 points and nine rebounds, just missing the first of many double-doubles he would go on to record. With 29 double-doubles, he completed his rookie season, making the NBA all-rookie second team and placing sixth in the voting for rookie of the year.
After his debut season, Love began a five-year streak in which he averaged a double-double as the Wolves’ main threat. In three of those years, he was selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game, with the 2013–2014 season being his best, with an average of 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. He also received votes for MVP in 2012, coming in sixth after scoring 26 points and pulling down 13.3 rebounds per game. He was traded to Cleveland after the 2014 campaign to play with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
Love’s ability to play at pivotal moments for the US national team and in the NBA playoffs has been a highlight of his career. He helped the Cleveland Cavaliers overcome the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals in 2016 by making crucial plays with LeBron James. At the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2010 FIBA world championship, Love also assisted the United States in taking home the Olympic gold medal.
Love stayed in Cleveland when LeBron and Kyrie left the Cavaliers at the end of the 2017–2018 campaign, with James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kyrie joining the Boston Celtics.
Kevin Love's Net Worth, Salary, and Career Earnings
After the other members of Cleveland’s big three left the franchise in 2018, Kevin Love agreed to a four-year, $120 million contract to stay with the team. With an additional $120 million expected to be added over the following four seasons, Love will have made over $146 million in his NBA career. He is rumored t to have a net worth of $50 million, mainly due to his NBA career salary.
Love has earned the support of organizations like State Farm, Nike, and Banana Republic. Together with Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, he is a well-known chocolate milk spokesperson.
Kevin Love Personal Life
Karen and Stan Love gave birth to Kevin Love in Santa Monica, California. He has an Emily-named sister and a Collin-named brother. Since 2015, he has been dating Canadian model Kate Bock.
Once DeMar DeRozan shared his experience with depression publicly, Kevin Love became an advocate for mental health awareness in the NBA. He has played a vital role in advancing mental health awareness in professional basketball and the broader sports community.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Awards and Honors by Type:
5 x NBA All-Star | 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018 |
2 x All-NBA Second Team | 2012, 2014 |
1 x NBA Most Improved Player | 2011 |
1 x NBA All-Rookie Second Team | 2009 |
1 x NBA Three-Point Contest champion | 2012 |
1 x NBA rebounding leader | 2011 |
NBA All-Rookie Second Team | 2009 |
NBA All-Star, NBA Most Improved Player, NBA rebounding leader | 2011 |
NBA All-Star, All-NBA Second Team, NBA Three-Point Contest champion | 2012 |
NBA All-Star, All-NBA Second Team | 2014 |
NBA All-Star | 2017 |
NBA All-Star | 2018 |
Kevin Love Fun Facts
- Love’s family has strong ties to the Beach Boys, as his Uncle was a founding member.
- Virgo is the zodiac sign of Love.
- In 2012, he won the three-point shooting contest by making the most three-point field goals in a field that included Kevin Durant and Joe Johnson.
- Before the concept was made into a film, Love featured in one of the early Uncle Drew advertisements with Kyrie Irving.
- Love appeared on the cover of the 2009 NCAA Basketball video game, one of the last college sports video games produced.
Kevin Love sign with Miami Heat
Today, the Miami HEAT announced the signing of five-time All-Star Kevin Love. The terms of the agreement were not published per team policy.
Love, the 2016 NBA Champion, has participated in 41 games (three starts) with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. Love averaged 15.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in three starts while shooting 38.9 percent from the field, 39.3 % from three-point range, and 87.5 percent from the foul line. On November 4, he scored 21 points, gave out ten assists, and grabbed eight rebounds, becoming the first player in Cavs history to do so off the bench. He did so in only 23:26 minutes, the shortest amount of time by any backup in NBA history during the shot clock era (1954).
Love began this season scoring at least 12 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting at least 40% from three-point range, becoming the first player since the 1979-80 season to do it in the first ten games of a season while playing less than 21 minutes per game. He grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds against Chicago on January 2 and scored a season-high 29 points against New York on October 30, connecting on a career-high eight three-point field goals, notably five in the fourth quarter, the most treys in his career.
Furthermore, the HEAT has taken 57 charges this year, the second-most in the NBA, with Love adding 17 of his own, tying him for the 4th by any player in the league this season.
The 15-year NBA veteran averaged 17.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 30.4 minutes per game while shooting 43.9 % from the field, 37.2 % from the three-point range, and 83% from the foul line. He has hit at least 36% from three-point range in 11 seasons and is one of only 4 players in NBA history to shoot at least 35% from three and average at least ten rebounds.
He leaves the Cavaliers as the all-time leader in attempted field goals (2nd), defensive rebounds (3rd), total rebounds (6th), free throws made (8th), rebounds per game (8th), points (9th), and field goals made (10th).
Love will be wearing the number 42.
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