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Should the Golden State Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night, the NBA Finals will be over. This would be particularly not-good news for one specific Cav: Kevin Love. Not only would his team not have won a single game, but he’ll also have endured the ceaseless, merciless mockery of his haircut.
Kevin Love has not always looked the way he does now; in college, he wore a closely cropped buzz, which in his professional career grew out into famously luscious curls. He hasn’t even had this cut for the entire season. Prior to this month, one could describe his hair as the same long-on-top, short-on-bottom fade that every single man in the entire world had from 2015 to 2017.
But when Love returned from a concussion to play in Game 1 of the finals, his haircut was ... different. And the Twitter critics, as they are apt to be, were ruthless. Some described it as a low-end barbershop job:
Kevin Love’s fade been weighing heavy on my spirit. Magic Cuts did him filthy. pic.twitter.com/xkmw12sW0k
— With a K (@IAMKRIS24) June 1, 2018
... or worse, something that could have happened at PetSmart:
Kevin Love got his fade from Pets Mart pic.twitter.com/aZqWYkijtQ
— Anthony (@OMGItsBirdman) June 1, 2018
People also compared it to some less-than-celebrated haircuts in pop culture history:
Kevin Love got that Slingblade fade pic.twitter.com/QWvWp0D9Dd
— Joseph Phillips (@josephhphillips) June 1, 2018
Kevin Love got that fresh Little Finger fade pic.twitter.com/KTxpZM0VPb
— Ryan Magdziarz (@RyanMagdziarz) June 1, 2018
Kevin Love with the Forest Gump fade pic.twitter.com/1IrqfEC8HI
— The Chosen Won (@A2K4Life) June 2, 2018
But the most common concern was: How the hell does Kevin Love, who earns nearly $22 million a year, let his barber do this to his hair?
I still can't believe how bad of a fade Kevin Love got from his barber. pic.twitter.com/MgFnYhB9wP
— Jeff D Lowe (@JeffDLowe) June 7, 2018
To find out, we spoke to Dennis Mero, a stylist at Dolce Vita salon in Orlando who has worked regularly with NBA player Chandler Parsons. Speaking to Racked’s Cheryl Wischhover, he confirmed that yes, Love’s haircut is bad. “Yes, it looks horrible to me,” he said. “It looks like a home haircut. It looks like someone from home took a sledgehammer and just went in. Obviously, there’s a big line on his head.”
“I’m actually very curious about what happened, what went wrong here,” he added. “First of all, you’re going to be on national TV. That’s a big no-no. It needs to be cleaner. [Maybe] he went to a stylist who doesn’t know how to barber, or he went to a barber who wasn’t familiar with his type of hair texture.”
Perhaps in preparation for tonight’s game, along with practicing the sport of basketball, Kevin Love will attempt something different with his hair. If he does neither, this evening will likely not be a very good one for him.