Dwyane Wade On His Altercation With Kevin Love: "Kevin Love May Not Like Me As A Person Because Of That Moment, But If I Ever Got The Opportunity To See Him Again, I'd Just Want To Apologize To Him..."

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Dwyane Wade is one of the most beloved guys in NBA history, becoming a fan favorite during his honored career. However, the Miami Heat legend still starred in controversial moments during his active days. 

One of the most famous involves former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love. In 2018, while Love struggled with mental health issues, D-Wade wasn't happy with the big man's absence during an important stretch of the season. He pushed KL too much without knowing all the problems the sharpshooter had. 

Sam Leweck of Cavaliers Nation writes about the altercation, saying Wade regrets handling things that way. 

"I had an incident in Cleveland with Kevin Love where I didn't know that he dealt with or suffered from any mental health issues. I was on him, because I'm an old dude trying to—this is my last ride to win a championship, and I didn't know what he was dealing with mentally. So we had a very ugly incident as a team that happened that came out in the papers and all those things about it, and then once I left Cleveland, Kevin became more outspoken and became really a voice for mental health. And I didn't have any idea."

Moreover, he said he'd like to apologize to Love if they ever cross paths again. Mental health is not a joke, and Flash is trying to fix things with his former teammate. 

“Kevin Love may not like me as a person because of that moment, but if I ever got the opportunity to see him again, I’d just want to apologize to him because I didn’t know what he was dealing with, and I was just trying to say, ‘We need you, we need you,’ but I didn’t know that he was dealing with something that was so serious that I could not fathom or even know what he had to deal with,” Wade continued.

Joe Vardon explained in detail this event in 2019, saying that Wade was the instigator of a dramatic meeting between Cavaliers teammates. 

"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 on Monday, challenging Lue to disclose where Love had been. Numerous players verbally attacked Love, who eventually explained his absence as part of a wide-ranging, heated discussion in which virtually no one was immune from criticism."

Wade has made it clear that he hopes to apologize to Love someday. They didn't spend a lot of time together, but it was marked by this incident. Now Love has been more vocal about mental health issues, helping other players and people in general with his messages.