:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/XW5A3AL563K5MI7KOQLZP4TU6A.jpg "Kevin Love wastes no time and signs with the Heat")
Kevin Love wasted no time. He is now an official member of the Miami Heat.
The five-time All-Star and 15-year NBA veteran got his rights back on Monday and signed a contract shortly after to spend the rest of the season with the Heat. The former Cleveland Cavaliers forward came to Miami to sign and intends to begin training at his new facility immediately.
Love’s first official practice with Miami is scheduled for Thursday, when the team returns from All-Star break and could open Friday against Milwaukee.
Love is an NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist and FIBA World Cup champion. He ranks 42nd all-time in 3-pointers with 1,536 and 19th among active players.
Heat center Bam Adebayo – who hoped Love would sign with Miami – said he intended to speak to coach Erik Spoelstra on Monday to start discussing how he and Love could play together.
“Spo is smart. He’ll figure out how to figure things out,” Adebayo told The Associated Press. “It’s emotional. We will have fresh legs. We have a player like Kevin Love who has been in all the wars, he came back 3-1 (Cleveland beat Golden State in the 2016 Finals). You have a player who has proven himself and who has won.”
In 15 seasons with Cleveland and Minnesota, Love is averaging 17.2 points and 10.5 rebounds. But this season, he’s a career low 8.5 points, 6.8 boards and 20 minutes averaging in 41 games, almost all of them off the bench, with Cleveland. He didn’t play the last 12 games before the All-Star break.
This led to talks to end his contract and the arrival of Love to the Heat.
On Monday, Miami was finalizing the contract for another center – free agent Cody Zeller, who is averaging 8.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in 494 games with Charlotte and Portland.
The Heat are coming back from seventh bye in the Eastern Conference and are 37-27, five games behind Cleveland, which is fourth. The top four teams in each conference have home-court advantage in the first round, and the top six skip the mini-tournament that determines the seventh and eighth.