Though he intelligently won’t sign an extension, Kevin Love wants to be a Cavalier ‘long term’

There is a chance, however slight, that Kevin Love leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent this summer. LeBron James could decide to walk away from his own contract with the team in order to pursue a baseball career. Kyrie Irving could elbow Love out of that lucrative soda pop endorsement. Dion Waiters could continue to be Dion Waiters. Between now and July, lots of things could happen.

What won’t happen between now and then is a contract extension for Love. The new Cavs power forward could make far, far more money as a free agent that re-signs with Cleveland this summer than he could merely extending the contract that includes a player option for next season at over $16.7 million. If he rides this season out, wherever it leads, and opts out, then Love can eke even more money out of the league’s maximum contract guidelines.

Until then, of course, he’ll have to hear the questions from those who aren’t really on the up and up when it comes to all things NBA. Scott Sargent is not one of those people, but sadly for him his job demands he had to sit through an episode of “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on ESPN radio on Tuesday to document Love’s interview. Here’s the killer quote from Love:

“Since I was traded to Cleveland this summer, I’ve said since Day 1 that I’m a Cleveland Cavalier long term and I plan for it to be that way. I want to grow with this team. There’s a lot of guys with a lot of unique talent, one-through-fifteen, on our roster who are going to be here for a long time. If I could end all the speculation now, I would. But people are going to continue to talk no matter what. I just want to continue getting better with this team long term. I’m a Cleveland Cavalier.”

The “if I could end all the speculation now” tagline is a bit off, because Love could end all the speculation now by signing an extension that would make the Cavaliers more than happy. Or he could even sign off on opting into the final year of his contract for next season. Either move would be incredibly daft on Love’s part, there is no chance that either would happen even if he did suffer some sort of calamitous injury, and absolutely nobody within Cleveland or out of it should criticize Love for sustaining this current, cogent, plan.

There is no real guarantee that Love will sign a long-term extension with the Cavaliers this summer, even if he does want to stay a Cavalier for life. With the influx of television money hitting NBA coffers in the coming years, necessitating a salary cap raise, Love could ink a one-year deal this summer and sign for far more the following summer. LeBron James, who “only” signed a two-year deal with Cleveland last summer, is clearly following that path.

The Cavaliers have won four straight after a tough start, a streak they’ll likely continue as they head into New York on Thursday night. The Knicks are one of several teams that has for years looked forward to Love’s 2015 opt-out as a chance for a rebirth, but even if the Cavaliers fail to win a title or even make it to the Finals this season, Love is going to stay in Cleveland unless something goes terribly wrong. Kyrie Irving would be the best teammate Kevin Love ever had even if LeBron James had never existed. And LeBron James does exist. He exists and he just lost out on the Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award to something named “Jimmy Butler,” and he has six months to figure this all out.

Anyone charging Kevin Love for being duplicitous for saying that he would like to end any speculation while declining to sign a contract extension doesn’t understand how these things work. Luckily for Kevin Love’s bank account, Kevin Love understands how these things work.

Lucky for Cleveland, too. About damn time.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops