Kevin Love reportedly drawing interest from West contender

The Suns are among the teams interested in Kevin Love if he finalizes a buyout with the Cavaliers, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said in an appearance on "Pardon the Interruption."

As Windhorst points out, Love was teammates with Suns president of basketball operations James Jones when Cleveland won its lone championship in 2016, so there’s a connection there. Love also played with Kevin Durant and Chris Paul on Team USA in 2012, when the Americans went undefeated in the London Olympics.

The Suns have an open roster spot and both their taxpayer mid-level and biannual exceptions available, so they could offer Love more than a minimum-salary contract if they’re so inclined.

According to Windhorst, Love requested the buyout due to a lack of playing time, having been a healthy scratch for the past 12 games. Windhorst suggests the Cavs weren’t “thrilled” with the request, but they had gone 9-3 with Love out of the rotation, so they didn’t want to switch things up when they’re having success without him.

A few teams called Windhorst after the news broke requesting background information on the veteran big man, so he is attracting interest despite having a down year — Love is averaging career lows in points (8.5), rebounds (6.8) and minutes per game (20.0). A thumb injury, which is now healed, limited his effectiveness from an efficiency standpoint, as his FG% (38.9) and 3PT% (35.4) are his worst marks since 2012-13, when the 34-year-old played just 18 games due to injury.

Windhorst says the Heat are “very interested” in Love, but notes that Cleveland might have to play Miami in the first round of the playoffs — paying someone to join a direct competitor obviously doesn’t make much sense. Windhorst wonders if the Cavs will negotiate to try to force Love to join a Western Conference team instead of another team in the East.