Kevin Love Reportedly Targeted by Cavaliers Teammates During Tense Meeting

According to a new report, Kevin Love was targeted by several of his Cavaliers teammates during a tense meeting on Monday afternoon.

The Cavaliers are currently 27-18 and sit in the third spot in the Eastern Conference standings. They’re just one game ahead of the Heat and two games ahead of the Wizards, but they’re also just two games behind the Raptors and six games behind the Celtics for the top spot. So they’re not in that bad of shape in the grand scheme of things.

But the Cavaliers have struggled mightily since the start of January. They’re just 3-6 in that span, and most recently, Cleveland got blown out at home by the Thunder 148-124 on Saturday afternoon. So many Cleveland fans are starting to panic and wonder if this team is really equipped to make another run to the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers have been especially bad on the defensive side of the ball and have given up more than 100 points in all but one of their games since the top of the new year.

With all of that in mind, it’s not surprising to hear that the Cavaliers held a team meeting on Monday to air out some of their grievances. But what is kind of surprising is that it sounds as though Kevin Love was targeted by several of his teammates during the meeting. It seems some of Love’s teammates are not happy with him at the moment.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, several Cavaliers players who were not identified spoke out against Love during the course of the Cavaliers’ meeting. They were apparently unhappy with Love for leaving the team’s game against the Thunder with an illness and then skipping a subsequent practice on Sunday. It’s unclear why they took issue with Love for being sick, but several Cavaliers players reportedly questioned the legitimacy of Love’s illness and asked for the team’s front office and coaching staff to hold him accountable for checking out on the team, both figuratively and literally, before it finished its game against Oklahoma City.

Wojnarowski’s report indicates the meeting was "loud and intense" and that things only died down once Love stepped forward and explained his illness to the team. But according to the report, the meeting included both head coach and Tyronn Lue and general manager Koby Altman, which suggests that a serious conversation took place.

The good news for the Cavaliers is that it sounds like Love’s teammates accepted whatever explanation he offered up to them during the meeting. It also sounds everyone was prepared to move on from what happened with Love over the weekend at the conclusion of the meeting. But this latest report is unlikely to sit well with Cavaliers fans, who are growing impatient over the way the season is playing out.

The Cavaliers will return to the court on Tuesday night with a road game against the Spurs before returning home later this week for games against the Pacers and Pistons.

Latest in Sports