Arizona alum Caleb Love has improved each month of his rookie season in the NBA. Undrafted despite being an elite scorer during his collegiate career, Love has been the top rookie scorer in the NBA since Christmas, according to Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports.
Love is averaging 16.8 points per game on 44.8 percent from the field, 40.9 percent on three-point attempts, 70.8 percent on free throws and 57.8 eFG percentage. Making his NBA debut in October, Love averaged 5.0 points in two games.
Love improved to 8.9 PPG in 10 games in October, 10.1 PPG in 14 December contests and is averaging 16.9 over nine games in January. The minutes for Love have also increased. Love averaged 9.6 minutes per game in October, 19.7 in November, 21.0 MPG in December and 28.4 MPG in January.
Love has increased his production with only one start in 2025-26. In the first start of his NBA career on January 13 against Golden State, Love played 33:55, scoring 17 points on five of 16 from the field, two of nine on three-point attempts and five of eight from the free throw line.
I say this respectfully because I coached 18 NBA players and know the league. This was a layup. Young man was hiding in plain sight at @ArizonaMBB. https://t.co/jk1j1rkITS
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) January 19, 2026
Love has been a solid all-around player
Love is averaging 21.9 MPG, 11.2 PPG, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists for the entire season. In January, Love is also posting season highs of 3.6 RPG and 3.9 APG while shooting season bests of 44.7 percent from the field and 39.5 percent on three-point attempts.
Love has become more efficient in the NBA. In his final season at Arizona, Love shot 39.8 percent from the field and 34.0 percent on three-point attempts. Portland currently has 21 wins and 22 losses. That puts Portland in ninth place in the Western Conference of the NBA and in a play-in game.
Portland has started playing better as Love has continued to develop. The Trail Blazers are 7-2 in January, entering their game on Sunday night at Sacramento. Portland is currently three games behind Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors for eighth place in the Western Conference.