CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Cavs forward Kevin Love, beset by injuries the last three years during Cleveland’s rebuild, will compete for Olympic Gold this summer in Tokyo with USA Basketball.
Cavs general manager Koby Altman was elated to get the news hours before the team won the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft Tuesday.
“We’re thrilled,” Altman said Tuesday night following the NBA Draft Lottery. “First of all, it’s an honor. My background, I come from Team USA as an intern and the experience you get with USA Basketball is unlike anything else I can describe, especially when you win gold.
“He has a chance to add another gold medal to his resume, Olympic gold, but I think more personally for us as a franchise and for him, he gets to play five-on-five with the best players in the world every day and then go out and play meaningful games. That’s going to be great for him and he knows he needs to have a big offseason, and this is the perfect place for him to do that.”
Love has missed 118 games over the last three years, including 47 this past season due to a calf strain, with various injuries but the five-time All-Star is now healthy. He averaged 12.2 points, 7.4 rebounds2.5 assists while shooting .409 from the field in 25 games this past season.
Love, who won gold with the 2012 men’s national team, won’t be the only Cavalier training with Team USA this summer in Las Vegas.
Guard Darius Garland, selected fifth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, has been invited to play with USA Select.
“That’s a tremendous honor for us as well,” Altman said. “Darius getting to go against that caliber of player every day in practice, at his age, is tremendous.
“We’re excited and I think people are taking note nationally of how good Darius has become and his talent level.”
Garland averaged 17.4 points 6.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting .451 from the field, including .395 from beyond the arc.