Kevin Love had already won an NBA championship, made two All-NBA teams, and built a career most players only dream of. But when he sat down to write for The Players’ Tribune in 2018, he was about to do something far more lasting than anything he’d done on the court.
Love revealed that he’d suffered a panic attack during a November 2017 game between his Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks. In the essay, titled Everyone Is Going Through Something, he made a case that changed the conversation around mental health in professional sports: keeping your struggles inside isn’t strength — it’s a slow way to break.
Since then, Love has turned that message into a platform. He launched the Kevin Love Fund in 2018, which now reaches hundreds of thousands of students with free mental health curriculum. He’s spoken openly about therapy, depression, and the danger of tying self-worth to a jersey number. In a recent email interview with ClutchPoints, he laid out just how far the NBA has come — and how far it still has to go.
The Door That DeMar DeRozan Opened
Love credits DeMar DeRozan with making his own honesty possible. “If he hadn’t spoken up first, I’m not sure I ever would have pressed send on my Players’ Tribune essay,” Love said. He also pointed to former teammate Channing Frye, who talked openly about grief and depression. “Watching him talk openly about grief and depression showed me that you could be a pro and still be a whole human being.”
But the most meaningful conversations, Love said, never make headlines. “Guys pull you aside on the plane, in the weight room or after a tough loss and ask how you’re really doing. Coaches do it too. There’s no press release for that. That’s the part that feels different now. Ten years ago, a lot of those conversations were not happening out loud.”
Did Opening Up Help Him Play Better?
Not exactly, Love admitted. “It wasn’t like I opened up and suddenly played the best basketball of my life. It doesn’t work that way.” What changed was the weight he carried. For years, every bad game felt like evidence that something was wrong with him as a person. After therapy and honest conversations, he stopped needing basketball to define his worth. “It allowed me to enjoy the game again.”
That shift, he said, helped sustain an 18-year career — not by making him a better shooter, but by making him a healthier human being.
The NBA Has Resources. Trust Is Another Story.
Love acknowledged that the league now provides real mental health support through the NBA, the Players Association, and individual teams. But he stressed that resources alone aren’t enough. “Players also need to trust that they can use them confidentially and without being judged. You can have the best therapist in the world available, but if the culture still treats asking for help like a weakness, guys are not going to walk through that door.”
That’s partly why his foundation focuses on students and young athletes. “By the time a guy reaches the league, he may have needed these tools for years and never had access to them.”
Advice for the Players Who Are Afraid
To those worried that speaking up could cost them a roster spot, Love said the fear is real. But he added that opening up doesn’t require a public essay. “It can start with one private conversation with a therapist or one person you trust. You do not owe the world your story.”
His own path taught him that “the stronger move was finally asking for help.”
One Story That Stays With Him
Love shared a story from his foundation’s work that still gets him emotional. A teacher using the Kevin Love Fund curriculum noticed one of her students had written about thoughts of self-harm. Because the classroom had created a safe space, the teacher connected the student with school counselors. The parents later thanked that teacher for saving their child’s life.
“Sometimes a young person is carrying something incredibly heavy but does not know how to say it out loud,” Love said. “If we can help create a safe opening for that conversation … that can make a real difference.”
He reflected on his own childhood: “I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain what was happening internally. I buried it for a long time.”
Proud, Not Satisfied
“Proud, absolutely. Satisfied, no — and I hope I never get there,” Love said. He wants the work to outlive his playing career. “I want these tools to become part of how kids grow up, so that a young person going through what I went through has the language and support to ask for help a lot earlier than I did.”
As for what comes after basketball, Love said he’s not done yet. But he’s already built a life where the sport isn’t the whole story. “I have my family, and becoming a dad changes what a good day looks like. I have the Kevin Love Fund, which I have called my life’s work and truly mean it. Whenever that next chapter comes, I want to pour more of myself into the things that were always going to outlast the game.”
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