Cavs’ Love works to raise mental health awareness
CLEVELAND — Kevin Love can’t remember being this freshly shaven, gliding his fingers over his smooth cheeks and chin while glancing at a large mirror.
The reflection doesn’t pain him anymore. From the outside, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ All-Star forward appears to have it all: A model’s striking looks, a multi-million dollar contract and dream job. At 30, he’s in the prime of his career, and maybe for the first time, truly happy.
“I’m getting there,” he said, his voice conveying determination. “It’s still a work in progress.”
Nearly a year ago, Love suffered a panic attack during a game against Atlanta. The desperate, life-altering event eventually led to revealing his long-term battle with anxiety and depression.
Now Love is hoping to break down stigmas about men’s mental health. He has partnered with Shick Hydro on a website series called “Locker Room Talk,” holding candid conversations with Olympic gold-medal swimming icon Michael Phelps, former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce and Cavs teammate and close friend Channing Frye.
The first episode with Phelps premieres next month and coincides with fundraising efforts for the Movember Foundation, which promotes men growing moustaches during the month to raise awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide.
Love’s discussions with the three athletes cover a wide range of topics, including “masculinity, traumatic events, women and their roles in our lives, thoughts of suicide, anxiety. Everything.”
“We’re changing the paradigm of locker room talk where it’s not just about sports anymore,” he said. “It’s life.”
Love hopes the frank discussions will touch people to seek help and maybe encourage them to address their problems. It took a distressing experience for Love to take the first steps in his journey.
During the second half of a game on Nov. 5 against Atlanta, Love’s career took an unexpected turn and it may have saved him. He suffered a panic attack so severe that Love said he felt like he was dying. He felt trapped, gasped for air and with his heart and mind racing uncontrollably, Love frantically scrambled from room to room deep inside Quicken Loans Arena before finally collapsing on the locker room floor.
He subsequently sought counseling. But after another panic episode, Love felt compelled to go public after some teammates questioned why he left another game early. Love began his personal admission with a powerful essay for the Players’ Tribune entitled “Everyone Is Going Through Something.”
“In the immediate aftermath of Nov. 5, I didn’t want anyone to know. I still don’t know how I came out and played 48 hours later. I wanted to hide. I was so afraid that people were going to find out what had happened. All those events that then followed allowed me to get to a point where I was like, ‘OK, now it’s time for me to tell my story’ and I wanted to tell it in my own words.”
Thursday’s games
CELTICS 101, THUNDER 95: In Oklahoma City, Jayson Tatum scored 24 points, and Boston rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to beat winless Oklahoma City.
Marcus Morris added 21 points, Al Horford had 19 and Kyrie Irving 15.
TRAIL BLAZERS 128, MAGIC 114: In Orlando, Fla., Damian Lillard scored 34 of his 41 points in the second half to help Portland beat Orlando.
PISTONS 110, CAVALIERS 103: In Detroit, Andre Drummond had 26 points and 22 rebounds, and Detroit improved to 4-0 and dropped Cleveland to 0-6 for the first time since 2003-04 — when LeBron James was a rookie.
LAKERS 121, NUGGETS 114: In Los Angeles, LeBron James scored 28 points to go with 11 assists and 11 rebounds, and Kyle Kuzma added 22 points to lead Los Angeles past Denver.