Signing a lucrative $110 million deal does not guarantee a player will stay with the team he signed for based on the terms they agreed upon.
Take Kevin Love for example. The Cleveland Cavaliers power forward is involved in NBA trade rumors again even if he has just committed himself to the team for four years.
According to recent NBA trade rumors, Love and Cavs are not working well with each other. The skillset of the former UCLA standout does not complement the system that coach David Blatt runs and vice versa. Add to that is the fact that Cavs invested big time on Tristan Thompson who plays the same position as him.
"The late signing of Tristan Thompson to a five-year deal gives Cleveland the option to move Love for a meaningful package of players and assets," Sports Illustrated wrote.
"Thompson's defensive skillset and comfort operating without the ball makes him infinitely more suited to play center next to James than Love is. So, if Love continues to have difficulty fully fitting in, especially when Kyrie Irving returns from injury, the Cavaliers would be able to fill every need around James and Irving while getting younger and deeper, which is something the Miami Heat failed to do when they had James."
It is hard to make sense out of this argument as Love is playing well for Cleveland Cavaliers ever since he returned from injury in last season's playoffs. He is currently averaging 17.2 points per game, next to Lebron James, and hauls 12.1 rebounds per outing, the most in the team.
There were rumors that he and James were not getting along but Love insists that is just his captain looking out for him and wanting more from him because he can.
"LeBron talked to me at halftime, just got me going," Love said after their victory against Indiana Pacers last week.
"That's all it was. I mentioned to him I kind of wanted to free flow and get myself near the basket. That's what I did. Got myself into a good rhythm rebounding the ball. I credit my teammates for that. It started with him and trickled down to everybody else." [...] James said he thought Love's problem was "his energy was really low offensively."
What do you think of this NBA trade rumor?
