The Portland Trail Blazers made early waves when they signed undrafted free agent Caleb Love. He experienced resounding success with the North Carolina Tar Heels and Arizona Wildcats, winning the Pac-12 Player of the Year award in 2023-24 and earning All-Conference honors in consecutive seasons.
No matter how excited fans may have been for Love's arrival, not even his most devoted of supporters could've seen the flashes of true star potential coming.
Love has played 38 games for the Trail Blazers, during which time he's accumulated season averages that won't turn all that many heads. He's averaging 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.1 three-point field goals made in 22.4 minutes per game on .394/.333/.744 shooting.
Love has flipped a switch over the past month, however, reaching new heights as a player while excelling on both ends of the floor.
Since Dec. 23, Love has averaged 16.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 2.6 three-point field goals made on .444/.393/.708 shooting. During that time, Portland has gone 11-6, including an 11-4 record over its past 15 games.
Love has played at least 28 minutes in all but three of those outings, and one of the exceptions saw him post 18 points in 25 minutes in a win over the Houston Rockets.
Caleb Love is flashing star potential for the Trail Blazers
Portland is now 13-8 when Love scores at least 10 points, meaning they're 10-15 when he either fails to or doesn't play. Furthermore, they're 15-9 when he attempts at least 10 shots and 8-14 when he either attempts fewer or isn't present.
Love has also produced seven 20-point games this season, during which time the Trail Blazers have gone 6-1 with wins over the likes of the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat.
The obvious counter that those unfamiliar with his success will make is that the undrafted rookie is succeeding against defenses that can't be bothered with him. The numbers tell a different story, however, as he ranks in the 74th percentile in overall gravity and the 64th percentile in off-ball gravity, per Basketball Index.
In other words: Defenses are routinely keeping track of where Love is on the court and throwing quality defenders his way whenever the situation calls for it.
Despite that reality, Love ranks in the 82nd percentile in rim shot creation and the 88th percentile in three-point shot creation. Furthermore, since the start of the aforementioned stretch, he's shooting 55.6 percent on drives and 43.9 percent on catch-and-shoot threes.
Love also ranks in the top half of the NBA in perimeter isolation defense, ball screen navigation, and off-ball chaser defense, per Basketball Index, thus revealing that he offers two-way value.
Clearly, it's far too soon to confidently state that Love is on his way to All-Star status in the NBA. He's in the midst of a remarkable stretch, but the path from where he is to where he's attempting to reach is long and winding.
What Love has proven over the past month, however, is that the Trail Blazers have a talented building block whom they can help realize potential that those on the night of the NBA Draft couldn't see.