Kevin Love Wants to Reunite with LeBron James on 76ers: Can Philly Actually Make Room?
Kevin Love is trying to get the band back together in Philadelphia. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the former All-Star big man is interested in signing with the Philadelphia 76ers to reunite with LeBron James, and his camp has already been in contact with the Sixers front office.
Love’s agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, has reportedly been in touch with Philadelphia ever since James made his decision to sign with the Sixers earlier this offseason. The problem is roster space, and the Sixers do not have any.
Philadelphia is currently at full roster capacity after adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, another former LeBron teammate, to complete their offseason overhaul. The team already has two backup centers behind Joel Embiid in Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti. Adding a third center-eligible player would require a corresponding move, either a trade or a waiver.
None of that is impossible, but none of it is easy either.
Love, 37, played last season with the Utah Jazz in a limited role, averaging 6.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He is a five-time NBA All-Star and a two-time All-NBA selection, and while his best days are well behind him, he can still stretch the floor, rebound in short bursts, and provide a veteran presence in the locker room.
The Love-LeBron connection is a real basketball story, not just a friendship one. The two played together on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 and reached the NBA Finals in all four of those seasons. They won the 2016 championship together, one of the most memorable rings in NBA history because of the 3-1 comeback against Golden State. Love hit the biggest defensive stand of that Game 7 when he stayed with Steph Curry on the perimeter in the closing minutes.
The two have stayed close ever since. They have been spotted together plenty this summer, including for a 2016 Cavaliers reunion photo that made the rounds on NBA Twitter. Reports as far back as last spring hinted that Love could be a package deal with James wherever he landed. Philadelphia was the destination.
So what does Philly do? The front office could waive a two-way contract, but that does not open a standard roster spot. They could trade a fringe rotation piece for a draft pick and cash to make room. They could also just leave Love hanging and use their 15th spot on a G League call-up during the season.
Signing Love makes basketball sense in one specific scenario, which is when Embiid inevitably misses time. Bona and Hukporti are young. Love can play limited minutes as a stretch big who can pass out of doubles when the defense collapses on Jaylen Brown or Tyrese Maxey. His floor spacing next to a driving guard is exactly what LeBron’s Cleveland teams used to do to overwhelm defenses.
The counter-argument is simpler. Love is 37, moves like it, and defends like a big man ten years his senior. Bona and Hukporti bring more energy and rim protection. Adding Love just to satisfy LeBron’s wishes is a bad reason to burn a roster spot.
Philadelphia will figure this out one way or the other. Love wants to be there. LeBron wants him there. The Sixers front office has to decide if it wants to make it work. Watch for a corresponding move in the next two weeks.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
