Fansided

Kevin Love has forgiven Kelly Olynyk for ending his season

By Cody Williams

Apr 26, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) injures his shoulder during the first half in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Boston Celtics. at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 26, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) injures his shoulder during the first half in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Boston Celtics. at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kevin Love had his NBA Playoff run ended by Kelly Olynyk, but Love has forgiven him.

Kevin Love has been absent from the dogfight that his Cleveland Cavaliers are involved in with the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the playoffs. It’s not a stretch to say that his absence is a large reason why the series, now tied 2-2, has been as competitive as it has been to this point.

Love has been out since the fourth and final game of Cleveland’s first round series against the Boston Celtics when Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk yanked on his arm going for a rebound. Here’s the play in question:

The play resulted in Love dislocating his shoulder seriously enough to require surgery that will ultimately keep him out of action for four-to-six months. After the fact, may people discussed Olynyk’s intent during the play and whether or not he was trying to injure the arm or shoulder.

Regardless of the intent, though, Love isn’t upset with Olynyk about the incident. David Aldridge of NBA.com reported on Monday that Love “holds no long-lasting ill will toward either the Celtics or Olynyk” regarding the situation and injury.

While it’s important that Love is teaching the age-old lesson of forgiveness, some may argue that this is much more important when you consider Love’s impending free agency.

When Love was traded to the Cavaliers from the Minnesota Timberwolves last summer, many people worked under the assumption that his teaming up with LeBron James meant that Love would be staying in Cleveland for the long haul. With the tumultuous nature of Love’s first season with the Cavs, though, that has become increasingly less certain the closer that we get to 2015 NBA Free Agency.

Love’s struggles for the Cavs have been widely noted, as has his perceived unhappiness at times throughout the season. Despite what he’s steadfastly said and maintained this season, he’s not looked like a man living a dream.

With all of that, the speculation about where Love could land outside of Cleveland as a free agent has been rampant around the league. One of the places that has come up often is Boston.

Boston was keen on potentially trading for Love this past summer, but ultimately couldn’t come with a sweet enough deal to entice the Timberwolves front office. Now that’s not an issue and they would merely have to persuade him to come and be the centerpiece of the men in green.

While having Olynyk injure him may not look good, Celtic fans have to be thankful that Love has reportedly forgiven him. Not that it matter in any real way; if Love did harbor ill-will towards Olynyk and told Danny Ainge and co. to deal him, Olynyk would be sent out with overnight shipping.

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