Dwyane Wade reportedly first Cavs player to instigate the Kevin Love illness drama

Wade, who apparently was first to question Love's absence, was traded to Miami on deadline day

In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, we heard plenty about the dysfunction in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room. Easily the biggest (or at least most notable) moment was their team meeting following the team's embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

All-Star forward Kevin Love, who is now out with a broken hand, left that game early due to illness, but apparently no one told the rest of the Cavs. Because, as reports started to leak about the team meeting, one of the main topics was players accusing Love of faking said illness. 

From the beginning, the story was that Isaiah Thomas was leading the charge in that regard, though the point guard, who has since been traded to the Lakers, said he was simply trying to figure out where Love had been. That type of activity in the locker room was, it seemed, one reason why the Cavs were eager to move Thomas out at the deadline. 

According to a new report from Joe Vardon, however, it was actually Dwyane Wade who first began making an issue of Love's whereabouts. Via Cleveland.com:

As things started heading south for the Cavs in January, Wade was an instigator in the infamous team meeting Jan. 22, hours before they flew to San Antonio.

Yes, Thomas was upset that Kevin Love went home with an illness before a 24-point loss to Oklahoma City had concluded on Jan. 20, and that he was not at practice the following day.

But, sources said, it was Wade who first made an issue of it at practice Monday, challenging Lue to disclose where Love had been. Numerous players verbally attacked Love, who eventually explained his absence to the team as part of a wide-ranging, heated discussion in which virtually no one was immune from criticism.

It's pretty interesting to hear that Wade was the one who instigated all the drama surrounding Love's absence. As a veteran, and himself a three-time champion, it would seem he would have realized that confronting coaches and players like he did was not going to help matters in the locker room.

But, Wade and Thomas are now gone, and those issues are apparently a thing of the past for a new-look Cavaliers team that looked to be having plenty of fun in the few games they played together before the All-Star break.