Cavs expect Love to return on upcoming road trip

Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin expects Kevin Love to make his return to the team's lineup during its upcoming road trip.

"We'll let him keep taking the next step all the way through and we'll see what that means," Griffin told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "I would anticipate that he'll play sometime on the road trip."

The Cavs embark on a four-game road swing mostly through the Western Conference after this Thursday's home date with the Utah Jazz. It includes the weekend in Los Angeles, where they have a Staples Center back-to-back against the Clippers and Lakers.

Love underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Feb. 14 and has so far missed 13 games. The team initially said he'd be out six weeks, but the power forward got tongues wagging Tuesday when he teased a photo of his jersey on Instagram. He's been cleared for contact in the meantime and has gone through three-on-three drills.

While many of the problems the Cavs are having right now are defense related, they clearly miss Love's frontcourt scoring as well. They're 6-6 since he went down, and have a 33-13 record with Love in the lineup.