--- title: Lil' Kev is Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers' Playoff Alter Ego description: The Cleveland Cavaliers have a new mascot — and it's a Tommy Bahama ad that bears a striking resemblance to player Kevin Love. canonical: https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-20T21:27:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:36.251Z og:title: Meet Lil' Kev, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Viral Mascot og:description: Apparently, he's Kevin Love's alter ego og:url: https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt882910f4ccd52ffd/6988942ef887dc9d94e95f42/lil-kev-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Toronto Raptors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Two og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Lil' Kev, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Viral Mascot twitter:description: Apparently, he's Kevin Love's alter ego twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt882910f4ccd52ffd/6988942ef887dc9d94e95f42/lil-kev-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet Lil' Kev, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Alter Ego Taking Over Social Media  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 20, 2016 9:27 PM UTC  CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 19: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts during the second half against the Toronto Raptors during the 2016 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 19: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts during the second half against the Toronto Raptors during the 2016 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)Jamie Sabau—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 20, 2016 9:27 PM UTC It looks like the [Cleveland Cavaliers](http://time.com/4287566/watch-lebron-james-go-undercover-as-a-pizza-employee/?iid=sr-link2)‘ playoffs sweep has left them with [lots of spare time](http://time.com/4095828/lebron-james-purple-rain-prince/?iid=sr-link1) on their hands. At least that’s the case for Cavs player Richard Jefferson, who is the mastermind behind “Lil’ Kev,” a mascot of sort for the team. It all began when Jefferson saw a Tommy Bahama ad of a model that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Cavs’ very attractive Kevin Love. Jefferson ripped out the ad and christened it, “Lil Kev.” (The name is inspired by Love’s “The Hoopers” State Farm commercials, where Love plays a pre-pubescent boy.) For Jefferson, Lil’ Kev is an alter ego for Love—akin to Kobe Bryant’s “Black Mamba” or teammate [LeBron James’ “King James](http://time.com/3896509/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-nba-playoffs/).” Jefferson described the alter ego in so many words to [_ESPN.com_](http://espn.go.com/blog/cleveland-cavaliers/post/%5F/id/2649/cavs-new-mascot-isnt-kevin-love-its-lil-kev)_:_ “Lil’ Kev, man, he’s a wild one. He’s a wild one. Everybody’s got like, alter egos. You’ve got Kobe \[Bryant\]; he’s the Black Mamba. You got \[Michael\] Jordan; obviously Air Jordan. You got LeBron \[James\]; and you got King James. So, you know, you got Kev \[Kevin Love\] and you got Lil’ Kev.” Lil’ Kev makes frequent appearances on Jefferson’s Snapchat, where Cavs players have been spotted wearing Lil’ Kev masks and impersonating Love. > [](https://twitter.com/AlyshaTsuji/status/732697511043850241) It also looks like Lil’ Kev is moving into personalized merchandise, if J.R. Smith’s shirt at practice was any indication. Lil’ Kev even has his own verified Instagram account now, which the NBA gave a shout out to on Thursday. No official word from Kevin Love on how he feels about his doppleganger’s mug taking over the Cavs’ playoffs journey, but we’d wager a guess that he’s just happy to [finally be pseudo-making it into his teammate’s pics](http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2016/2/2/10892696/kevin-love-is-finally-in-lebrons-post-game-picture). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/"},"headline":"Meet Lil' Kev, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Alter Ego Taking Over Social Media","datePublished":"2016-05-20T21:27:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:36.251Z","description":"Nope, not Kevin Love","url":"https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Cleveland Cavaliers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt882910f4ccd52ffd/6988942ef887dc9d94e95f42/lil-kev-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt882910f4ccd52ffd/6988942ef887dc9d94e95f42/lil-kev-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Toronto Raptors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Two","caption":"Toronto Raptors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Two","creditText":"Jamie Sabau—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4343642/cleveland-cavaliers-lil-kev-eastern-conference-finals-lebron-james/","name":"Meet Lil' Kev, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Alter Ego Taking Over Social Media"}}]}] ```