The last member of the Cavaliers 2016 championship team will reportedly soon be on the move.
The Cavs and Kevin Love have finalized a contract buyout . The team confirmed the move Saturday afternoon.
In recent weeks, Love had fallen out of the nine-man rotation deployed by Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who has said this season the team expected some frustration as players returned from injuries and the rotation had be to re-shuffled. The Cavs also didn't want to simply divvy up minutes to 11 or 12 players, believing that it would make it more difficult to find a rhythm.
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Prior to falling out of the rotation altogether, Love was averaging 20 minutes a game, the lowest of his 15 NBA seasons.
Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said after the trade deadline the team didn't anticipate a buyout, but that was before the Cavs added forward Danny Green . After Green's signing, the Cavs and Love reportedly moved forward without buyout talks.
Love essentially confirmed the report Saturday afternoon, tweeting, "I'll have more to say soon but want to get this off my chest. To the people of Cleveland and all of Ohio. I [expletive] LOVE you…and always will. Thank you for everything."
Love then tweeted Sunday afternoon that he was signing with the Miami Heat , who are currently holding the No. 7 seed in the East.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavaliers, Kevin Love complete contract buyout; Heat, 76ers favorites
