Where Is Kevin Love? Cavaliers 'Unhappy' With Absent Star As NBA Trade Deadline Looms

The Cleveland Cavaliers had 99 problems before Kevin Love's illness became one.

Love, the All-Star forward, left the Cavaliers' blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday early with an undisclosed illness that also caused him to miss Sunday's practice session.

That left his Cleveland teammates angry, according to an ESPN report. Adrian Wojnarowski wrote on Tuesday morning that the Cavaliers held a "fiery" team meeting on Monday during which the "legitimacy" of Love's illness and absence was challenged.

Wojnarowski continued: "The meeting was loud and intense, only calming down once Love spoke to those gathered in the room and explained himself, league sources said."

Love, who made the All-Star game this season for the fourth time in his career, has had a fine offensive season with 18.6 points per game. He has, though, been mentioned as one culprit for the Cavaliers' 29th-ranked defense.

Cleveland would reportedly like to bring in the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan before the trade deadline, enabling Love to move from center to power forward and giving the team the rebounder it has so sorely lacked during its losing run since Christmas.

That is, if the Cavaliers don't decide to make an even bigger splash before February 8 and trade away Love. Wojnarowski seems to suggest that's unlikely. "There was a sense that the team was largely accepting of Love's explanation, and that the airing out of issues could have a positive impact on what has become an increasingly fractured locker room," he wrote.

On the other hand, the suggestion by Wojnarowski that the Cavaliers are blaming everyone from Love to Isaiah Thomas to the front office to head coach Tyronn Lue suggests their problems are either massively wide-ranging or they haven't yet identified the exact root cause.

Or both. Clearly, everything is not well in northeast Ohio and it may take a massive move at the trade deadline to fix things in the short term.