Mental health is something that is not taken care of too much in sport. At least not with the intensity in which it should be done. And it is at the lowest level where you suffer the most: sports that report little income, that do not have too great a visibility or that do not have the favor of public opinion, more focused on the king sports, those practices that move billions of dollars and that are in all social gatherings, newspapers, radios and televisions. However, the fact that these types of diseases are more present in the lower echelons of sport and also, of course, in daily life, they generalize the opinion that great stars are immune to these problems. And they, like everyone else, are also vulnerable to suffering its enormous consequences and going through terrible times despite having a life surrounded by luxuries and comforts. At least more luxuries and comforts than the rest of the world.
Kevin Love broke a spear in 2018 for this issue. He publicly commented that he suffered from depression in 2012 and in 2020 he confessed that he had suicidal thoughts. “You can’t go from turning it on to turning it off. There are days that are very hard“, he assured. In 2018, in a letter written to The Players Tribune, the power forward for the Cavs revealed his fight against those inner demons that had been tormenting him during the last years of his life. “The future started to stop making sense. And when you lose hope, the only thing you can think about is, ‘How can I make this pain go away?’ I don’t think I have to say much more than that“.
These are just a few words from Kevin Love, who spoke then, and a lot, of his tendencies to end his life. But the power forward is not only famous for having been one of the pioneers against this fight and for putting his debate in the media center. A native of Santa Monica, California, his family moved to Oregon as a child. There he attended Lake Oswego High School, where he broke a record that has been in effect for more than 50 years: the highest scoring record for a male college basketball player in the state, with 2,628 points. And he did it despite missing more than half a season sophomore because of an injury. After several years of success in high school, he made the leap to Bruins from UCLA. He received permission from a legend like Walt Hazzard to wear the retired number 42 on his back. And he succeeded.
While rubbing shoulders with John Wooden or Bill Walton, Love received animosity from the University of Oregon, his father’s alma mater. He even received death threats that reached a mobile phone that had been obtained fraudulently. But that did not prevent that, after finishing the season 2007-08, he was named best rookie of the year and best player in the Pacific Ten Conference, in addition to being chosen in the All-American first team. He also helped his college win his conference title and regular season, reaching the final phase of the NCAA, falling in the semifinals of the Final Four against the University of Memphis. A good step in basketball that gave him enough resume to present himself in the NBA draft that same year.
De Wolves a Cavs y de Ricky a Ricky
Kevin Love was drafted No. 5 in the NBA in 2008, but was embroiled in a multiple trade that led to the Minnesota Timberwolves. There he began to forge what seemed like a legendary career, but later it was not so much. 11.1 points and 9.1 rebounds in his year rookie, 14 + 11 the next, and explosion in 2010-11: 20 points and 15 rebounds on average and a 31 + 31 against the Knicks that nobody had achieved in the NBA since Moses Malone, back in 1986; 15 years ago, Charles Barkley would reach 33 rebounds in a duel. The third digit in the first figure would be achieved by the best Andrew Bynum the following year. And, in 2017-18, Dwight Howard had 32 points and 30 rebounds with the Hornets. Meanwhile, Love’s steps went forward: on March 8, 2011, against the Jazz, he went to 24 points and 12 rebounds, thus equaling Moses Malone’s 53 consecutive double-doubles, which is the second longest streak of consecutive double-doubles in NBA history. He is only beaten by Elvin Hayes, who reached 55 in 1973-74, almost the prehistory of the League. The next game against the Warriors he captured 12 rebounds but only scored 6 points, seeing a streak that seemed like a video game broken.
That year, Love won the Most Improved Player award and went to an All Star that he would attend five times. In 2012, he won the Triple Contest, beating Kevin Durant in the final. Both that year and in 2014 he was in the Second Best Quintet of the NBA. That last year was the best for him statistically: 26 points and 12.5 rebounds (with 4.4 assists, showing a significant improvement in this aspect) per match in 77 games without a prize. Rick Adelman, in his last big project, was plagued by injuries and missed the playoffs. And the Wolves were left with the memory of the Western Conference finals that they played with Kevin Garnett as leader, in 2004. Since then, a single playoff appearance (2018) in 17 years, which will add 18 when this season ends, in which it does not seem that things are going to change for a small market franchise, little social base, and excesses in the offices and on the benches. And also missed opportunities, with more or less important names (Love, Wiggins, Towns, D’Angelo, Butler …) that have been left by the wayside.
Love traded the Wolves for the Cavs in 2014 and said goodbye to Ricky Rubio, one of those teammates who nurtured baskets and statistics. There he lowered his averages and was relegated to a corner, thus renouncing the situations of pick and pop and the post that characterized him. Along with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Love was always between 16 and 19 points, and between 9 and 11 rebounds, adding two new All Stars and a huge amount of double-doubles, in addition to not giving up the pass from field to field, with that innate ease to find the partner in transition as soon as he catches the rebound. He played less close to the rim and could not take advantage of his ability to rebound offensivelyBut he was aware that he was fighting for something else. That he threw between 5 and 6 triples per game, many of them released, was a constant. That he defended Stephen Curry on the key play of the 2016 ring, a rarity. Love averaged 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in the Finals, with a poor 26% on 3s. But he assumed his role and worked in the seventh game: 9 + 14 + 3. And that famous defense, after Kyrie’s triple, with Curry’s desperate attempt to tie and force an extension that never came. “Excelent defense of Love“, said Mark Jackson, analyst with Jeff Van Gundy of TNT. Both accompany Mike Breen in the naracción of the parties. It wasn’t like him big three from LeBron, Kyrie and Love. But almost.
This is Kevin Love, who when he spoke in 2018 also began a gradual fall into hell, mixed with a multitude of injuries and a listless team that sank into the deepest well after the departure of the prodigal son, a LeBron James with an aura greater than anyone else. And now, years later, he meets Ricky Rubio again, whom he jellies from a bench that takes up more time than the track without any kind of complaint on his part. Last year, plagued by countless physical problems, it was 12.9 points per night. This course is at its career low, 9.9. Now he’s back in the dry dock, but he’s 33 years old. He is a born leader and he takes care that the chemistry does not fluctuate with a contract, it must be said, extraordinary (He will pocket 31 million this year and almost 29 next year). And, as the last stronghold of the 2016 ring, it links a meteoric race that has a championship as its climax. That, and the fact that he had put on everyone’s lips a taboo problem that he made tangible and real: mental health.
