Kevin Love hilariously trolls LeBron James before 'announcement'

It's been years since they were teammates, and there were rumblings they might reunite, but Kevin Love still shares a special bond with LeBron James. Following James' ambiguous announcement yesterday, the Utah Jazz forward made a pretty fun joke of it before James confirmed what he was actually announcing, which makes the joke even funnier.

Yesterday, James announced "The Second Decision," a reference to when he made a TV special back in 2010 to announce where he was signing. James was ambiguous about it, which led many to speculate that he was announcing his retirement.

Before James confirmed what he was actually doing, Love made a crack about James on his personal Instagram, where he shared a pic of Michael Jordan from the 1990s, back when Jordan was being interviewed following allegations of his gambling problem.

Given Love's history playing next to James in Cleveland, this was all in good fun, but it's even funnier after James confirmed he was simply announcing his partnership with Hennessy. In other words, he was trolling everyone, making Love's trolling of his former teammate beforehand even funnier.

It is heartwarming to see that Love and James still have a playful relationship over seven years after they parted ways as teammates.

That kind of influence could be good for the Jazz's locker room

With the Jazz embracing their youth even more this season, what can help their young players reach their potential is having a good veteran influence in the locker room. Love can be that player, and better yet, he can be that while not interfering with their playing time.

It was definitely surprising that the Jazz decided to keep Love, but maybe that was because they would rather have someone like him, a former superstar and NBA champion (is he a future basketball Hall of Famer?), who can be that presence that can help guide them as they figure out their place in the NBA. And if he didn't want that, he could have easily given money back in a buyout, but he didn't.

Love is now at that stage where he won't get playing time unless his team has no other options. Just look at how much he played last season with the Heat, a team that was trying to win. He appeared in only 23 games, averaging just 10.9 minutes, which resulted in career lows across nearly all categories.

It sounds like he's aware of this and is embracing his role with Utah. Having that veteran presence who's able to crack funny jokes could be a subtle ingredient to the playoff contender the Jazz want to build.