Kevin Love Reportedly Could Return from Knee Injury on Cavaliers' Road Trip

Despite creating a little fervor with an Instagram post of a jersey in his locker, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love reportedly will not play Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons.

He's "just excited about getting close," a source told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.

However, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said Love could play at some point in the team's upcoming four-game road trip, per Vardon.

Love, 28, has missed Cleveland's last 12 games after having surgery on his left knee Feb. 14. The Cavaliers said he would be re-evaluated in six weeks, so this would have marked an early return to the floor.

Cleveland is just 6-6 without Love, including losses in four of its last five games. LeBron James has played his most efficient basketball of the season and Kyrie Irving has scored 20-plus points in 16 straight games, but the Cavs are getting a harsh look at Love's importance to their championship push.

Viewed as the third wheel to James and Irving his first two seasons in Cleveland, Love found his comfort zone in 2016-17. He was averaging 20.0 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game before the injury and earned his fourth All-Star selection.

"It's disheartening," Love said of missing the All-Star game, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press (via NBA.com). "Obviously I wanted to be there, I wanted to play in the game, but I thought for myself, for the team and everybody's best interests, it was good for me to get that week. It definitely did buy me some time where there wasn't games where I was able to recover, not miss games and I put in a week of recovery before I got back."

A six-week timeframe would put Love back in the lineup toward the tail end of the regular season. A March 31 return, which is a little beyond six weeks, would give Love eight games to get back into a rhythm and game shape before the playoffs.

The Golden State Warriors are facing a similar situation with Kevin Durant, who suffered a sprained MCL and bone bruise last month. The impending return of Love and Durant and their effectiveness upon return might wind up deciding whether Cleveland-Golden State gets its much-anticipated Finals rubber match.