New on Sports Illustrated: What Was Kevin Love Thinking on This Lazy Inbounds Pass?

He just slapped the ball on the ground.

His frustration was visible

These Cavaliers are a far cry from the teams Kevin Love played on when he first arrived in Cleveland. The Cavs, though they’ve already won more games than in any year since LeBron James’s (second) departure, stink. They’re 21–40, good for 13th place in the East.

An already lackluster roster was even more depleted for Monday’s game against the Raptors. Taurean Prince is out for the season due to an ankle injury that will require surgery. Larry Nance Jr. has a broken thumb that might keep him out for the final three weeks of the season. Matthew Dellavedova has a neck strain and three players—Isaiah Hartenstein, Lamar Stevens and leading scorer Collin Sexton—have concussions.

So it’s not a surprise that Cleveland entered the game as a double-digit underdog. Still, the Cavs trailed by just four with 45 seconds left in the third. But by the end of the quarter, thanks in large part to a terrible play by Love, they were down 11.

After Love allowed an easy layup to Malachi Flynn, he went to inbound the ball and inexplicably swatted it straight to Toronto’s Stanley Johnson.

The blunder led to an easy three for Flynn. A Brodric Thomas turnover and a foul by Love led to two more points before the end of the quarter. The Cavs went on to lose, 112–96.

It’s a surprise to see a veteran like Love lose his head like that, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he wasn’t sure what Love was thinking.

“You’ll have to ask Kevin,”

Bickerstaff told reporters. “We talked about it. He apologized to his teammates for it and we’ll move on.”

The entire sequence at the end of the quarter looked like Love’s frustration boiling over. And why wouldn’t he be frustrated? He was brought in as a major piece of a championship contender and went to four straight NBA Finals, but the years since LeBron left have seen an injury-plagued Love toil for one of the worst teams in the NBA. A toe injury limited him to 22 games in the 2018–19 season and he sat out the vast majority of the first three months of this season with a calf strain. He said that his recovery process wore on him mentally.

“I don’t want to speak hyperbole or take it over the top, but this is probably the most mentally taxing—not the most physically taxing injury—but the most mentally taxing for me for sure,” Love said after his third game of the season in mid-March. “It was really a struggle ’cause it’s who I am. I’m a basketball player first and foremost and I’ve loved this game for so long. Just playing basketball, that’s what I love to do. It’s so much a part of me. When you have it taken away from you and you feel like there’s not much you can do after working so damn hard, that can be really disheartening and a tough hurdle to overcome.

“It was just really mentally frying. I got so f------ sick of riding the bike and doing the Versaclimber. There’s never been a time in my life where I’ve wanted to run sprints more than like two, three weeks ago.”

And what was Love’s reward for working his way back? To play for a team that has gone 4–10 since his full-time return to the court. He’s averaging just 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during that stretch, well below his stats in his first two post-LeBron seasons. So yeah, his frustration seems pretty reasonable. 

The best of SI

Four of MLB’s top contenders got off to slow starts. Are they in trouble? ... This week’s Champions League and Europa League semifinals will be played under the shadow of the failed Super League gambit. ... The NBA’s tanking era appears to be over, thanks to the play-in tournament. ... Whoever replaces Jeff Bridich as GM of the Rockies will have their work cut out for them. 

Around the sports world

Tennessee State (with an assist from the Predators) is reportedly considering launching a hockey program, which would be a first among HBCUs. ... Turner is reportedly the frontrunner to land the package of NHL games not airing on ESPN. ... Chiefs tight end Sean Culkin is taking his 2021 salary in bitcoin. ... Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic tracked down the women who had their bachelorette party ruined by the last NFL draft with fans. 

His reaction was fantastic

Now that’s a fun fact

Sounds like they’re planning on a late lunch

This quote could easily come from a supervillain

George Kittle had a great response

Ridiculous athleticism

Offseason mode

Not sports

An Oklahoma woman discovered that there was a warrant out for her arrest after she failed to return a VHS tape 21 years ago. ... An Italian man who lived alone on an island for 32 years has been forced to leave. ... A Russian man who tried for three months to get eliminated from a Chinese reality show was finally voted off. 

A town in North Texas had a tornado and a rainbow at the same time

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.