When the NBA's newest superteam got off to a surprisingly sluggish start this season, and newly-signed power forward Kevin Love with them, it led many in the basketball community to speculate about whether Love - slated to become an unrestricted free agent at season's end - would opt to ditch the Cleveland Cavaliers this July.
Intentionally or not, Love stoked that fire some when started talking publicly petitioning for more touches inside and reflecting on his struggle to find himself in Cleveland's star-crowded offense. Meaty rumors about Love splitting for Los Angeles in the offseason started to swirl.
But both Love and the Cavaliers have recently showed signs of getting on track; The Cavs have won four straight, and Love's averaged 25.3 points on 66.6 percent shooting (53.8 percent from deep) over his past three. On Wednesday, Love took the lull in intense media scrutiny as an opportunity to clear the air about his future intentions.
"Since I was traded here to Cleveland during the summer I said since day one I'm a Cleveland Cavalier long-term, and I plan for it to be that way," he said on ESPN's Mike & Mike radio segment.
"And I want to grow with this team; there's guys with a lot of unique talent 1-through-15 on our roster that are gonna be here for a long time, so, you know, if I could end all the speculation now I would, but people are gonna continue to talk no matter what.
"I just wanna continue to get better with this team long-term ... I'm a Cavalier."
