* Photo Credit:
– “Kevin Love” by Keith Allison is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Article by Darayus Sethna
On Tuesday, June 16th, I had the chance to access another conference call related to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However this time it was not organized by the Cavaliers themselves, rather the Cleveland Clinic. In a series known as “Ideas for Tomorrow,” Chief Executive Officer and President of the Cleveland Clinic, Tomislav Mihaljevic, invited NBA star Kevin Love to discuss his methods on dealing with mental health issues, as well as some of his most cherished memories as a professional basketball player.
At the time this interview took place, Love was in New York City, and he also highlighted his childhood memories, most notably with his father, Stan Love. As the ninth pick in the 1971 NBA Draft, Stan Love played in 239 games, and averaged about 7 points / 4 rebounds per game. In his youth, Kevin Love also reminisced how his father embraced the influence of German superstar Dirk Nowitzki in the game of basketball:
“He ❲Nowitzki❳ was somebody my dad looked at… ‘The European influence is huge. The game is going to expand.’ ”
Along with his childhood memories, Love also discussed his ascension as an all-star caliber level athlete in the NBA. And it involved some challenges he needed to overcome. Challenges that only a few professional sportsmen have been able to conquer:
“People told me that every offseason, players add something to their game… I was just thinking, ‘How do I slow that burn? How do I slow father time?’ “
It seems that Love has been able to remain consistent, having just finished his twelfth season in the NBA. This past year with the Cavaliers, Love averaged about 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. He also shot about 45% from the field, his second highest field goal percentage since joining Cleveland back in 2014. He also mentioned his time playing with LeBron James, and how the Northeast Ohio Community continually supported their team, no matter what the circumstances were:
“I have been fortunate to have been around LeBron since I was fifteen years old… It was great to see a historic franchise and their support.”
Speaking of support, Dr. Mihaljevic brought up the topic of how Love was able to handle the pressure that came with the initial stages of speaking out about mental health issues. On November 5th, 2017, in a home game against the Atlanta Hawks, Love suffered a panic attack and was afraid how speaking out about the subject would be taken by the sports community:
“I was very nervous on how it was going to be received… ‘What is the public perception going to be?’ ”
And even though those initial stages may have been difficult to endure, Love believes his actions will hopefully pave a path for future generations to build upon.
“I’m hoping that others, even outside of sports, will continue to come forward.”
That same season, just before the 2018 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, former Toronto Raptors star, DeMar DeRozan announced that he had been struggling with depression. Love credited DeRozan for his efforts in also discussing mental health issues in a statement he released in 2018:
“The thing is, because we can’t see it, we don’t know who’s going through what and we don’t know when and we don’t always know why. Mental health is an invisible thing, but it touches all of us at some point or another. It’s part of life. Like DeMar said, ‘You never know what that person is going through.’ ”
Although it was a simple conversation between Dr. Mihaljevic and Kevin Love, it was a vital one in terms of its importance to discuss how important it is to stay in touch with those you know. Love also mentioned how staying positive and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is critical during these unprecedented times:
“It’s really fascinating to me what life is going to look like coming out of this… Just continue to stay connected if you can… I do believe that great things will come out of this.”
Love will be receiving the Arthur Ashe Award at the ESPYS this Sunday. First awarded in 1993 and named after American tennis player Arthur Ashe, this specific award is presented to those whose contributions and work in the community “transcend sports.”
Although the Cavaliers have been struggling these last few years to get into the win column, the principles and morals in which they stand by have never changed, and their very own superstar has exemplified this. With his charitable actions, Kevin Love has proved that even with the challenging obstacles presented on the court, there is always time to focus on the needs off of it as well.
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