Kevin Love may have been traded by the Miami Heat in the offseason, but he’s still very appreciative of his two former mentors, Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley.
The 37-year-old was traded to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade — also involving the Los Angeles Clippers — back in July, which saw the Heat acquire high-scoring guard Norman Powell. Love called the trade “unexpected” and admitted he was emotional following the trade, saying that he expected to end his career with the Heat.
However, he has since taken a liking to his new home in Utah, saying the organization has treated him great. He also made sure to give credit to his former head coach, Spoelstra, and the Heat’s president, Pat Riley.
“Just their attention to detail and win-now type of mentality,” Love told Heat Nation of what Spoelstra and Riley’s best traits are. “I think there’s that those words that they talk about — culture — all the time, right? But I think that is part of it. It’s the chase. It’s the attention to detail. It’s the outworking everybody and being in the best condition, both mentally and physically. They really taught me a lot.”
Love spent three seasons with the Heat, signing with Miami following his contract buyout with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was signed with the expectation he’d be the missing piece to help get the Heat over the hump and deliver them a championship.
While the Heat never won a title with Love, he did lead Miami to the NBA Finals in 2023 in his first season with the team. As a key member of the starting five, Love averaged 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds while starting 18 of his 20 appearances during the playoffs.
The Heat made it to the playoffs during all three seasons of Love’s tenure in Miami, but the organization began moving in a different direction last season. Miami traded Jimmy Butler midway through the 2024-25 season and barely squeaked in as the eighth seed in the playoffs.
Love also only appeared in 23 games with nine starts as he saw a diminished role during his final season in Miami. The five-time All-Star forward averaged career lows of 5.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game. Furthermore, he didn’t appear in any of their four postseason games as the Heat were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although Love still had a year left remaining on his contract, it became clear that the Heat were moving in a different direction. That meant trading Love for Powell made sense for the organization as they looked to acquire a high-scoring guard to fill in for an injured Tyler Herro.
With Herro — the Heat’s leading scorer from last season — sidelined for the early portion of the 2025-26 season, Powell has picked up the scoring load, leading the team with 26.1 points per game through his first 10 appearances.
Meanwhile, Love has played a veteran mentor role for the Jazz, appearing as a regular member of the rotation in the wake of Walker Kessler’s season-ending torn labrum injury.
Love admits the Heat became a “better team” as a result of the trade and harbors no ill will towards the organization.
He goes so far as to call Spoelstra and Riley two of the “greatest coaches” of all time.
“I tried to absorb and be a sponge to all those championships that they had accumulated or have accumulated over the years,” says Love of what he learned from Spoelstra and Riley. “So again, those are two some of the greatest coaches of all time and have forgotten more basketball than a lot of people know. It was an amazing group to be a part of, and they set the standard for the rest of the NBA.”