Could Kevin Love wind up with the Celtics?

Kevin Love’s first and possibly only season with the Cleveland Cavaliers ended against the Boston Celtics when Kelly Olynyk injured Love’s shoulder fighting for a loose ball in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. The injury required surgery, and Love has watched his Cavaliers move on to the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors without him.

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Much has been made of Love’s future after this season, and the Celtics are in the market for a star player to go along with their star head coach and young roster. Wouldn’t it be something if the injured power forward wound up donning the green and white next year after how this year ended?

Well, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski said he thinks Boston will be in the mix for Love. On The Jason McIntyre Show on Yahoo! Sports Radio, Woj said he believes Love will “look closely” at the Celtics and that there’s a “real, legitimate possibility” that he signs there (via SH Blog).

Love has his options this summer. He has a player option for $16.7 million with the Cavaliers next season, and he could still opt in to that if he so chooses. He could also opt out and either sign a short deal in Cleveland and quickly become a free agent again in order to take advantage of the cap surge, or he could sign a long-term max deal there and lock himself in with LeBron James (assuming he’s there for the long haul) and Kyrie Irving.

But it’s no secret that Love had some issues fitting in this season, and although things improved over the course of the year and he said all the right things, perhaps he does actually look elsewhere. And if that’s the case, the Celtics will be right there at the front of the line trying to acquire him, along with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boston would seem to be a good fit with an excellent coach in Brad Stevens, and Love would be “The Man” again on offense. The Celtics will have the requisite cap space to sign Love, so if he wants to go there, he can just sign there outright.

Needless to say, the Summer of Love should be an interesting one.