Kevin Love On His Way Out of Cleveland?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are suffering through one of their mid-season slumps where they lose a bunch of games in January and February. But this one seems much more different and much more tense than the previous seasons. In the latest drama involving the Cavaliers, notable Cavalier Kevin Love is taking some heat from his teammates.

Prior to Monday's practice, the Cavaliers held a team meeting in the practice facility's loser room, where several Cavs players questioned the legitimacy of Kevin Love's illness, which led to his leave in Saturday's loss to the Thunder where they have up 148 points.

Several of these players pushed the Cavaliers management to hold Love accountable for leaving the game before the end of it and then missing practice on Sunday.

Other people in this meeting included Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue and general manager Koby Altman.

According to multiple reports, Love gave a detailed explanation as to why he left the game on Saturday and that a lot of the team was largely accepting of Love's explanation of his absence, and many have speculated these issues could have a positive impact on a team that has already been fractured by both the terrible slump and by the drama that surrounds this team.

Because the Cavaliers are in a spiral, where they've lost six of their past eight games, there has been a lot of blame to go around from these players. Fingers had been pointed from everyone from Love to Isaiah Thomas, to Lue, and to the front office. The Cavaliers are just 27-18 and are one game ahead of the Miami Heat for third place in the East.

The latest drama surrounding Kevin Love's absence from Saturday's game has not seemed to quell any fracturing in the locker room, no matter what the reports say. We usually give this team a pass for their mid-season slumps because LeBron always manages to get loud enough to affect change within the Cavs' locker room and they always make the Finals as a result. Somehow, this season seems to be different than most mid-season slumps we've seen out of them. However, I would still exercise caution when it comes to the Cavs because they always seem to turn it on come March.

They're not in a good place, though, and this latest drama seems to signal the end of Kevin Love in Cleveland. Yes, he did leave the game because of an illness, but the fact that he got called out by his teammates for it doesn't seem to make the situation any better. I will not be surprised if the Cavs consider dumping Kevin Love at the trade deadline. He's clearly not the same player that he was when he got onto this team those years ago, and despite his numbers, he's not the player that the Cavs were hoping for this season. Yes, he's productive and he's still a big member of this team, but he's just not the same player.

I don't buy for a moment that these players accepted Love's apology. Sickness is one of the many things that players question about a player's absence. Injuries are a different story and people are more accepting of those. But illnesses are not, and if Kevin Love feels like his teammates are not trusting him to be out there on the court and producing, I would consider asking for a trade. That might happen, that might not. It won't be now, because the Cavs are not going to change anything about this roster anytime soon, according to Lue. But if they continue losing like this and the drama continues to build, there's going to be a lot of people being shipped out of Cleveland because LeBron will want a change within that locker room, whether it be Love or anybody else.

I said this before: Exercise caution when it comes to the Cavs. They've gone through this before and I'm sure they could pull out of this. But Love is in a difficult position where he wants to be a member of this team and be back in the Finals again. There is also the other side of this argument where Love may be on a thinner leash in Cleveland and he may be gone either before or at the trade deadline. Let's keep an eye on Cleveland. If the drama gets too loud and more stuff bubbles up, we're going to see some big changes in that locker room, and whether we like it or not, it will most definitely start with Love.