Should The Cavs Apologize to Kevin Love?

We're finally getting the news as to why Kevin Love was not on the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers the day they were blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The reason: Panic attack.

Love published a piece on the Players' Tribune on Monday morning and detailed his experiences with panic attacks, including one that he said he suffered during a game against the Atlanta Hawks back in November.

The game wasn't the only one that he had suffered a panic attack. Back in the game against the Thunder, just three minutes into the game, Love left the floor for what we thought at the time was either an injury or something else. Now we know that he suffered another one there, and that led to a team meeting where some current Cavalier players called him out for leaving the bench and the subsequent practice. He later admitted to them that he had been suffering panic attacks.

A few of those players included then-Cavaliers Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade. When asked about it later, Thomas said he didn't call him out but asked why he didn't stay and support his teammates.

Thomas eventually ended up in LA while Wade was sent back to Miami, and you can be sure they'll probably send out apologies and words of support for Love after this published letter. I'm sure many other Cavaliers will do the same, either current or former. LeBron James has already come out in support of LeBron, which essentially is an apology.

So now that the article is out there and we know why Kevin Love left a couple of times during the season, the question now is: Should the Cavaliers apologize for what happened? Absolutely, at least for the ones who called him out in that meeting. We haven't heard yet from a lot of players who were in that meeting, and we know we already heard one from LeBron. But it's absolute they need to apologize, because 1) You can't call out teammates like that and 2) Players have reasons for leaving the game, whether it be sickness or an emergency or anything like that. In this case, Kevin Love had an emergency and it was a panic attack. It's an issue he had to address and he had to do with what was in his best interest. I wouldn't fault him for that. However, I hope that anybody who was in that meeting and who went after Kevin Love either apologized then or is apologizing now.

Look, mental health is no easy thing to deal with. I deal with it all the time, and mental health has forced me to choose between work and getting better. Obviously, I chose getting better, and that's exactly what Kevin Love was trying to do, and I would encourage people out there who is dealing with mental health to take time off from work or wherever to get it taken care of and to feel better. That way, you can come back raring to go again and making an impact on your place of work.

Kevin Love took the smart approach and I should applaud him for that. As for his teammates, if they haven't apologized yet, they should. You can't do this, not in any circumstance. I understand that teammates should be there for each other, but if you have health issues that you must address, it's best to leave the team and get them figured out rather than staying and making it worse. That way, both the team and the player end off better in the long run.

Mental health is not easy. It's taken people many long hours, weeks, and months to feel better and come back ready to go again. Kevin Love can take all the time he needs to get better and hopefully when he gets back, he's ready to help the Cavaliers. They need him, and in order to get him at 100% health, he needs all the time he needs. Hopefully, that works out well.