Despite winning an NBA championship last season, some suggested over the summer that the Cleveland Cavaliers should trade Kevin Love. Love had to play a reduced role in the NBA Finals, after all, and they could use some help on the wing.

As you can imagine, Love was not a fan of that kind of thinking. The three-time All-Star said on Friday that he blocks out all that noise and wants to stay in Cleveland, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin:

"They'll never be gone," Love said Friday when asked about the critics. "That's just something that you live with. We have so much hype and media and the good and the bad surrounding this team and it just comes with the territory.

"So, I love this team, love the coaching staff, my teammates, the organization. I mean, I don't think it will ever leave but frankly, I don't really give a s---."

...

"Trade rumors, you know, I don't know," an apoplectic Love said. "You lose a couple games ... No, I don't know how to answer that. No. I'm here, man. I plan on being here a very long time."

Kevin Love and friends at media day
Kevin Love is clearly happy to still be in Cleveland. USATSI

You can understand why Love would be frustrated by questions about criticism and trade rumors. In his two years in Cleveland, he has done the following:

  • Accepted a reduced role on offense.
  • Not made an All-Star team or All-NBA team.
  • Watched the team make the Finals and lose without him after suffering an injury in the first round of the 2015 playoffs.
  • Bounced back from a poor Finals performance in 2016 by grabbing 14 rebounds and stopping Stephen Curry on the Cavs' most important defensive possession in Game 7.

Love has made it clear, over and over again, that he wants to be in Cleveland and compete for championships. He knows, just like everybody else, that he's not a perfect fit with this Cavaliers roster, but he's doing what he can to make it work as well as possible.

By all accounts, Love showed up to training camp in incredible shape, ready to help the team defend its title. The reality, though, is that, unless he becomes a dramatically better defensive player or the Cavs coast through the season, he's going to have to keep dealing with these distractions. If he can truly ignore them, that's a great thing, but when you play for a team that gets as much attention as Cleveland, ignoring them seems just about impossible.