Kevin Love: Salt Lake City, single stopover or last bet?
He arrived in the cold of Utah like an old soul in a world that is no longer quite his. Kevin Love, 37 years old on the counter, five selections at the All-Star Game, a glorious ring in Cleveland, and today... a jazz jersey on the back. And yet, nobody really believes in it. Neither he, nor the frankness, nor even those who saw him disembark, suitcase in hand and look in the void.
The transfer from Miami, as unexpected as it was discreet, looked more like a backstage movement than a real sporting choice. And barely arrived, Love already looks at the exit door.
Jazz, a luxury stop-and-go
He never said he wanted to stay. He never said he wanted to leave either. But in his gestures, in his body language, in this way of being there without being there, everything suggests that Kevin Love saw this passage in Salt Lake as a pause, not a project.
The hall sounds are clear: Love would already be looking for a buyout. A clean, elegant exit clause without esclander. The story of not filling the dressing room, but above all not simmering in a reconstruction in which he neither energy nor desire to take part. His stats speak for themselves: 5.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, in freefall since his departure from Miami. A mentor role? Maybe. But not here. Not now.
Hollywood in the sight?
A return to the sources would be more in his DNA. Love is Californian. He shone in UCLA. He knows the lights of L.A. And LeBron, the friend, the ex-brother of Cleveland's weapons, is still there. The Lakers never spit on veterans with a minimum shoot and a gold resume. One « last dance » alongside the King? It is not excluded.
New York is also whispered. A bench at Madison Square Garden, the smell of mythical parquet, glamour as a bonus... At this point, Kevin Love just wants to end up in the right place. Where basketball still counts, but where prestige counts as much.
The interior light has not been extinguished
It's not over. Not yet. Love doesn't speak retreat, not even half-word. He said he wanted to play 20 seasons. He's at 17. He's not a loose guy. He drags his knees, certainly, but he also drags an intact passion, that of a player who still loves the game. He does not want to end up in an anonymity of a franchise in work. He wants a last story to tell.
A useful role, even behind the scenes
However, his visit to Salt Lake will not be totally in vain. Walker Kessler, Kyle Filipowski, Taylor Hendricks: three young shoots that can learn alongside him. Love, it is a living manual of modern basketball: stretch oven before the hour, ferocious bouncer, IQ basketball ceiling.
Maybe only a few months, maybe a few weeks. But sometimes a veteran of this calibre is enough to plant a seed. To transmit a culture. A mentality. A requirement.
Kevin Love, between two worlds
Today, Kevin Love is suspended in time. Too experienced to blend into the Jazz version baby steps. Too lucid to force a role that no longer matches him. He's looking for his last chapter, the one that sounds right, the one we'll remember.
Salt Lake City may be just a crossroads in this end of career. But the next turn might be the right one. And when he finds him, expect to see a determined, sharp Kevin Love ready to write his own conclusion. Not to get back to the top. Just to get out with dignity. Like he always did.
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