NBA: Kevin Love Channels Anthony Bourdain To Become Better Player For Cavs

Kevin Love felt he was living the life of his hero Anthony Bourdain in his goal to become better person and player for the Cavs this coming season.

After the five-time All Star first revealed his mental health struggles in 2018, Love opened up about his mental health journey in an article he wrote for The Players Tribune. According to Love, he had an incident at halftime against the Atlanta Hawks during an early-season game. He explained that he felt trapped and didn’t know what was wrong. It wasn’t until later that he identified this feeling as an anxiety attack.

Last August, Love told ESPN’s Jackie McMullan that he was devastated by the death of his hero Bourdain, which came on the day of Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

And this offseason, Love finally faced the said issues and followed the footsteps of Bourdain in his popular travel and living TV show “Parts Unknown.”

During the Cavs media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts, Love revealed that he has been trying to live his life according to a quote about his role model, Ohio.com reported.

“I’ve said the quote a thousand times about Bourdain, ‘Being relentless and curious without fear or prejudice.’ I’ve tried to adopt that and live my life in that way and it’s been a lot of fun,” Love revealed.

And while some thought that it could affect the NBA champ’s basketball skills, Love also mentioned that he decided to take some time off and find “some semblance of balance” because he would like to be in his best form coming into this season with the Cavs.

“In order to be my best self on the court I have to find some semblance of balance. I think it was just my curiosity. I try to be a sponge in my growth, whether it be on or off the floor,” Love noted.

“I actually ended up leaving in better shape and feeling better than when I first got there,” Love added.

Cavs center Tristan Thompson supports Love in his search for balance. According to Thompson, Love deserves to enjoy life outside NBA as well.

“He deserved it. Sometimes you just need to get away from the game. Of course, you want to play in the playoffs, but sometimes you need to go and enjoy life,” Thompson said about Love.

Meanwhile, Love recently addressed the issues pertaining to the Cavaliers and him being traded soon. According to Love, he likes being in Cleveland but he is also aware that time will come that his days with the team will soon be numbered.