Kevin Love handed the ball to Isaiah Thomas as if he were a small child

This is just the latest moment in their petty relationship

Kevin Love grabs a lot of rebounds and normally hands them off to whoever the ball handler is. Sometimes it’s a toss, sometimes it’s a simple exchange, and sometimes it’s a crazy outlet pass.

But it’s never this.

Love bent over in the most petty way possible and handed the ball to Isaiah Thomas like he was a child. This is the living embodiment of sarcasm on a basketball court. I’ve never seen this in the middle of a game before — this is something you do to your younger sibling after they pout because you won’t pass them the ball.

Did Love intend for it to be that way? I’m not sure. Maybe he was trying to be funny. If that was the case, it worked on me because I can’t stop laughing about it. But the history between Thomas and Love on the Cavaliers so far isn’t a great one.

Thomas reportedly led the charge in calling Love out for being sick

After the Cavaliers were handled by the Thunder and gave up 148 points in a regulation game, the team had a meeting to air out their grievances with each other. Among those issues was the fact that Love left the game after just nine minutes because he was sick and Thomas was allegedly the one who brought it up.

Love has also had a reduced role in the offense since Thomas’ return and is irritated by that, according to a report from Cleveland.com.

Love, meanwhile, has groused over his reduced role in the offense since Thomas joined the Cavs after missing the first 36 games with injuries. Love’s averaging 9.25 shots in eight full games with Thomas, down from 14 shots per game when Thomas doesn’t play.

More and more, Love seems like the odd man out in Cleveland. It makes sense if this was an act to embarrass Thomas for Love — especially when Thomas hasn’t been particularly good.

The Cavs don’t have to like each other to win games

As long as Kevin Love is on the roster, his goal, like everyone else’s in Cleveland, should be to win a championship. They’re one of the most dysfunctional teams in the league right now, but they’ve still got two All-Stars and, when he’s right, Thomas is good enough to be one.

There have been teammates that haven’t liked each other for years while playing together and have still had success. The Cavaliers can do that here, but they can’t let those things get out like it did here if Love was really trying to send a message to Thomas.

At some point, hopefully, they put this all behind them and get back to playing basketball. Because when the Cavaliers are right they can be really fun and really good.