Welcome to Boss Files. I'm Poppy Harlow. If you're a basketball fan or really any kind of sports fan, this spring has felt very different. Major League Baseball is delayed. March Madness is canceled. And the NBA is suspended until further notice. For Cleveland Cavaliers player and five-time NBA All-Star Kevin Love, this has been a big

adjustment.

Normally, this time of year, he'd be spending nights playing for cheering fans.

Instead, his days now sound more like this.

Today, I want to talk about loneliness.

You know, it's one thing to talk about it. It's another thing to try and put

a face to it or understand. Like most of us, Kevin is self-isolating. He's also spending time

on Instagram, reaching out to his more than 3 million followers about mental health, an issue he's

passionate about and supports through his Kevin Love

Fund. And there was a New York Times article that I read last week, and I'll have to read it off

the page here. It says that the impact of social isolation and loneliness on longevity equals that

of smoking 15 cigarettes a day and exceeds the risk associated with obesity, excessive alcohol consumption,

and lack of exercise. Kevin is at home in Ohio right now, doing a lot of, well, reading,

walking his beloved dog, and spending an hour and a half every day walking on the treadmill.

Yeah, an hour and a half. I talked to Kevin about what

life is like for a professional athlete in the middle of a suspended NBA season. And he tells me

about his personal struggle with anxiety and depression and how that has motivated him to talk

so openly about mental health. This is really a pandemic that nobody's talking about.

I can't really put my finger on something or reach out and touch something that is a bigger thief of human potential.

We talk about what he's doing to bring awareness to the issue and how he's giving back to the workers affected by the suspension of the NBA season.

Here's my conversation with Kevin Love.

Kevin Love, thanks for taking the time.

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