Kevin Love spent only one season at UCLA, but that experience had such a positive and profound impact on him that he's now donating what UCLA says is the largest donation by any former basketball player in school history.
During the 2007-08 season, Love averaged 17.5 points and 10.6 boards while playing for Ben Howland in Westwood. UCLA went 35-4 that season and reached the Final Four. Love was the Pac-10 Player of the Year, and remember, he was a teammate of Russell Westbrook's at that time. Love's gift, per UCLA, matches Westbrook's exactly. (Westbrook donated to UCLA last December.)
In coordination with UCLA's announcement of his donation, Love also teamed up with The Players Tribune to pen a first-person piece on his college experience.The money is going toward UCLA's Mo Ostin Basketball Center enterprise. The arms race in college basketball now requires practice facilities and upgraded on-campus amenities to total millions upon millions of dollars.
Love's donation means the team's strength and conditioning center will bear his name.
In June, he helped Cleveland's NBA franchise to its first NBA title in that team's history. Love's career at the pro level has been above average, to say the least. He holds a 19.2 points-per-game and 12.2 rebounds-per-game average. He was taken No. 5 in the 2008 draft by Minnesota.
"UCLA will always be my home," Love said in a statement. "I have such fond memories of my time here from meeting Coach Wooden, to our run to the Final Four. I want to give back to the school and help prepare all the athletes who come through UCLA sports programs for their next steps, just like my time on campus prepared me."
UCLA has plans to open its Mo Ostin Basketball Center a year from now -- in the fall of 2017.
