Kevin Love is maximizing his impact as a role player while showing his greatness in shorter flashes.
The 36-year-old NBA veteran has transitioned into one of Miami’s leading bench players since joining the Heat last year. Before this chapter, Love established himself as an All-Star (five selections), one of the world’s premiere players (two All-NBA nods) and a champion (he won a ring with the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers). These days, he’s enjoying his growing family away from the court while offering collaboration and encouragement to his teammates.
Though Love’s minutes have regressed, his impact remains undeniable as he continues to adjust his game to more of a floor-spacer. Of his 41 field-goal attempts, 25 have been 3s, and he’s shooting a career-best 44 percent so far behind the arc. He and Bam Adebayo have played 50 minutes together, resulting in a net rating of plus-12.7 entering Tuesday’s NBA Cup matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In his Nov. 10 season debut, Love brought the ball up against Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert. Even a split second of indecision from Gobert left Love with enough space, time and rhythm to knock down a pull-up 3-pointer.
During Sunday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks, the mere threat of Love attempting a 3 was enough for center Daniel Gafford to leap on the closeout before Love repositioned himself for a wide-open attempt. Miami ranks ninth among all teams in catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage this season (38.6).
After missing Miami’s first eight games of the season, Love started his first four appearances before coming off the bench in his last two (both Heat wins). Since his season debut, he’s yet to log 20 minutes in a game and is averaging respective career-lows across the board, but that happens when high usage becomes spot minutes. Love’s minutes (13.5 per game) and scoring average (7.3) don’t fully frame the impact he’s provided Miami’s bench, especially given the team’s limitations because of injury or player development.
Rookie big man Kel’el Ware is a promising shot-blocker with floor-spacing potential. At only 20, Ware plays even more sparingly than Love. He’s eclipsed the 10-minute mark only once – and that was roughly three weeks ago – but Love remains readily encouraged about this year’s No. 15 pick to soon find his footing as he and other team veterans aid Ware’s strides. The rookie big hasn’t found himself feeling discouraged as he develops, and veteran presences like Love and Adebayo sharing their experiences can only help promising players like Ware eventually find their own NBA identity.
“And it’s all of us, all the bigs have been working with Kel’el a lot,” Love said about working with Ware. “So it’s not just me. It’s not just Bam [Adebayo], it’s everybody putting their best forward to just help each other and try to better communicate. That’s something we’re working on right now. You can hear a great team, so we just need to continue to communicate.”
Along with still being one of the NBA’s most respected voices and feared shooters, Love’s knack for rebounding and whipping outlet passes for teammates racing down the court for easy scores remains some of the most fun basketball to watch. He’s been impressing hoop fans with his outlet passes for as long as we can remember, so it’s not surprising how much fun teammates can have when racing around and trusting Love’s strong hands, keen eyes and high basketball IQ will create scoring opportunities.
Here, in another example against Minnesota, Love is ready to whip the outlet pass to a streaking Terry Rozier III before most of the other players even cross halfcourt.
During Sunday’s overtime win against Dallas, Love collaborated with Jimmy Butler on a long-range assist after Mavericks forward P.J. Washington missed a free throw with under four minutes left in the third period.
“Man, I love playing with K Love,” Butler said of his teammate on Monday. “He’s so smart. He’s always looking to make the right play every single time. With him on the floor, it’s so much space. It’s just like a head nod. I know what he’s thinking. He knows what I’m thinking. We talk about it because we’re one of the vet-vets on this team. But the one thing that we always keep in common is that we definitely want to win.”
Kevin Love with the outlet 🔥
Jimmy Butler with the 🔨DAL-MIA | NBA League Pass
📲 https://t.co/YUHUuO2Cn0 pic.twitter.com/brOxTUAzZ6— NBA (@NBA) November 25, 2024
Love’s days as a franchise centerpiece have passed, but he’s impacting Miami in the best ways he knows how, whether as a rebounder, playmaker, shooter or just a veteran voice for teammates to trust. Before he debuted this season, the Heat ranked only 19th in defensive rebound rate (69.8 percent). In the time since, Miami ranks third in that category (73.5). It’s safe to say touchdown assists and home run-esque 3s have a home in Miami’s rotation this season.
“They just love playing with him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s going to glass-eat. And all he wants to do is set you up for an opportunity going the other way, and those are important advantage opportunities for us.”
(Top photo: Issac Baldizon / Getty Images )
