Kevin Love is focused on helping the Miami Heat win as many games as they can as the 2024-25 regular season comes to a close. The Heat are hanging onto their spot in the play-in tournament, making every game from this point forward must-win affairs.
While he’s zeroed in on helping his team make the postseason for the sixth consecutive year, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t hear the talk surrounding him and Duke Blue Devils’ Cooper Flagg.
The favorite to go first overall in the 2025 Draft has every lottery team salivating at the possibility of getting the talented forward, and analysts have made interesting claims on how his professional career would play out.
Love shared his honest thoughts after getting involved in the comp conversation.
Miami Heat’s Kevin Love gets honest about the comparison between him and Cooper Flagg
Easily the most intriguing prospect in this year’s draft, Flagg is believed to cut a successful NBA career for himself. However, analysts think that he doesn’t have the potential to become a superstar and is looked upon to have a career like Love’s.
While being a one-time NBA champ and one of the most exciting players during his peak is not a bad career to have, Love shared on the Dan Patrick Show that he expects the Newport, ME native to have a much better career than his.
Per Awful Announcing’s Michael Dixon:
“For those who will take this as a shot at me…I don’t take it as such,” Love said. “I was pure skill & will. Cooper is far more talented than I ever was and if he stays healthy will have a far better career. He could very well have a statue by the time he’s finished. I’m a HUGE fan.”
Admitting that a young player is more talented than he was coming into the NBA is impressive to hear. While he didn’t become a league-shifting superstar, he was considered one of the best bigs during his athletic peak in the 2010s.
Putting their stats side by side will also show that Flagg had a better one-and-done season than the 36-year-old forward. Flagg averaged 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists through 35 games. on the other hand, Love was slightly behind with his 17.5 points, 10.6 boards, and 1.9 dimes.
While they both were highly regarded as high-class talents coming in, Flagg will be coming in with a slightly higher floor than Love in scoring and playmaking. He’ll be a much better fit in the current NBA meta than Love, and Love is more than okay with that.
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