Kevin and Stan Love - A Never Ending Bond
Miami Heat Forward Kevin Love recently lost his dad, former NBA player, Stan Love.
In an Instagram post made on April 27th, Kevin Love shared the following message.
Dad, you fought for a long time. The hardest stretch being these past 6 months. The most painful to witness being these last few weeks. And even at the end as you continued to deteriorate - I still saw you as a Giant. My Protector. My first Hero.
…
Like all of us, my Dad was imperfect. But despite his flaws, and my own, we are a successful story of father and son. A never ending bond, rooted in love, that will forever remain eternal.
Dad, I’m so proud to be your son. My only hope is that you’re proud of me. It was all I ever wanted. Thank you for everything.
I love you.
Kevin Love is no stranger to sharing the most vulnerable moments of his life. In 2018, Love penned an article titled Everyone Is Going Through Something for The Player’s Tribune. In it, he speaks about a panic attack he had at halftime of a game that season.
You don’t often hear about professional athletes and their mental health. Outside of their on-court performance, what’s known about their personal life is often volunteered by people outside their circle.
Kevin Love is an All-Star, a Champion, and a future Hall of Famer, but like the rest of us, he’s human. He has emotions and moments of pain that even the best physical therapist can’t help you work through.
Losing a parent is hard. Read a million stories of how people cope, and not one of them will tell you it’s easy. What they will tell you is lean on the people who’ll love on you when you need it most. During a Playoff game between Love’s Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavs Center Tristan Thompson was the friend we all need when we’re at our lowest.
In a pre-game moment, Thompson embraced an emotional Love on the court. You couldn’t hear their words, and you didn’t need to. Given the context and their history as teammates, viewers knew that Thompson was literally providing Love with a shoulder to cry on.
Basketball is a game of emotions. Speed, strength, force, and aggression are just a few words you could use to describe these superhuman athletes. But through on-court battles, endless plane rides, rehab sessions, and more, real bonds are formed, brothers are built, and the game of basketball becomes bigger than we could ever imagine.
No amount of money could replace the pain of grief. There is no professional status that makes you immune to hurt. Kevin Love, one of the funniest men in the NBA, shares so much of himself with fans and the basketball community at large that it's easy to forget he’s a real person with real feelings and real issues outside the basketball court.
Whether you’re an all-time great rebounder or the best line cook in your small town, we all need people we can lean on during life’s cruelest moments.
As the memories stream down my face I feel as if I can see it all so clearly now. It’s a f***ed up fact of life that towards the end, your own life or someone else’s, things that once seemed so complicated and confusing now seem transparent.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is people. This world is gonna break our hearts, and if we’re lucky, people will too. When the pieces feel impossible to put back together, lean on people who take pride in helping you try.