Nothing screams “let’s just get through this” quite like the quote Kyrie Irving uttered to reporters Friday about his team, the drama-filled Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Everything surrounding our team is just crazy to think that we’re still in first place and we’re still the team to beat, honestly,” Irving said. “Regardless of what anybody else says of what we need and what we don’t need and what we need to get better at — us, internally, we know that we have to improve on a lot of things, but we’ve just got to handle business as professionals and continue to get better.”

Handle business.

Read: Let’s just tolerate one another, win as much as we can, get through the season, and if we never see one another again, tears won’t be shed.

Understand that this situation has led antennas to be up all around the NBA in regards to possibly acquiring players from the Cavs in the summer.

Understand that Denver is one of the teams paying special attention. The reason? You already know the name: Kevin Love. The conditions would be ripe for another Nuggets run at the high-production star.

If the Cavaliers don’t win the NBA title, and perhaps even if they do, this has been the kind of rocky marriage that eventually gets broken up. There have been cryptic tweets, not-so-cryptic statements, disagreements, a towel tossed on a coach, LeBron James calling his own plays — a cauldron full of toil and trouble that has chipped away at the harmony and chemistry required of teams that win titles.

The storm clouds surrounding Love have persisted through it all. And while they’re not as thick now as they’ve been at times in his Cavaliers past, they’ve never completely gone away. He’s still suffering through the lowest production he’s had in a season in a long time.

Going into the weekend, Love’s scoring average has been the lowest in six seasons (15.8). Love’s field goal percentage is the second-lowest of his career (41.7). He has continued to rebound well but is nowhere near the terror on the offensive glass he once was. That number, 2.0 per game, is the second lowest of his career.

Coming out of all of this without a title? For a second consecutive season? That would be a gross waste of his talent — for the second straight season. The Cavaliers have strained to figure out how best to use Love. It’s put stress on all parties involved.

A loss in this year’s playoffs would force the Cavaliers’ hand to do something different to A) conform more to how new coach Tyronn Lue wants to play, and B) to better position themselves to win the title that Le Bron so desperately wants for this town.

The best way to do that and get helpful assets in return is to deal Love, which will help clear some of the air and probably clear some of the major financial burden they’re on the hook for with him — four more years at over $93 million.

The Nuggets are well-positioned to restock Cleveland with draft picks and veteran players in their prime that can thrive in the up-tempo, space-the-floor game that the Cavaliers ultimately want to make part of their DNA. The Nuggets organization probably has just two untouchable players — rookies Emmanuel Mudiay and Nikola Jokic — clearing a path for it to do whatever it feels is fair in potential packages in an attempt to trade for Love.

And, of course, the value of Love to the Nuggets, a team in search of a true star, remains immense. He checks off the alpha dog box that remains unchecked right now. The Nuggets have made big strides this season. With no changes at all, they should be expected to make a playoff run next season. A Nuggets team with Love would make the playoffs next year.

The Nuggets may have missed on Love in the past, but now could be the best opportunity to get him.

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey @denverpost.com or @dempseypost

Spotlight on …

LeBron James, F, Cleveland

With the regular season winding to its conclusion, LeBron James is stepping up his game, and while Cleveland is still searching to find consistent winning form going into the playoffs, he’s leading the way from a production standpoint and is The Denver Post’s player of the week.

What’s up: In three games, James averaged a triple- double of 26.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists. He shot 51.7 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Defensively, James was a terror as well, with averages of 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks. The Cavaliers won two of the three games.

Background: James actually had a triple-double in only one of the three contests, but he had games of such individually gaudy stats that the net effect of it all was the triple-double average stat line for the week. Outside of the contest in which he did earn a triple-double, James’s best game came in an overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. In that one, he had 29 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.

Dempsey’s take: A lot about this season has gotten under James’ skin, including inconsistent play, for the most part, from a team that doesn’t look much better than the one that ended last season with a loss in the NBA Finals to Golden State. He pledged to do more to help the situation, and his week was a good example of what he’s talking about.