Love: I respect and love DeRozan for opening dialogue on mental health

Kevin Love was able to open up about his mental health struggles after DeMar DeRozan paved the way.

The Cleveland Cavaliers center revealed in The Players' Tribune on Wednesday that he suffered a panic attack in November and has been seeing a therapist about his anxiety.

Love said he published the piece in hopes of helping even one person who's dealing with mental health issues, but it's apparent his reach has been far greater. After tweeting out his TPT email so other people can share their stories with him, he said he's received more than 4,000 messages in less than 24 hours.

He's grateful for the "amazing" outpouring of support and for DeRozan starting the conversation when the Toronto Raptors star recently revealed he's been experiencing depression.

"Without a guy like DeMar DeRozan coming out and speaking about mental health I probably wouldn't have pressed 'Send' yesterday," Love told reporters Thursday. "... He opened the door for me so I respect and love him for that."

Like Love, DeRozan has been blown away by the response.

"Me being who I am, the response and everything I got back from it, it was so positive," DeRozan said after Wednesday's win over the Hawks. "And it made me feel pretty damn good, honestly. So it's cool being able to help somebody."

Related - DeRozan to others struggling with depression: You're not alone

The two All-Stars have squared off in the playoffs two years in a row, but have been able to put their on-court differences aside for a worthwhile cause. They've both alluded to sharing their personal battles with mental health, regardless of how uncomfortable it made them, because they wanted to help others and put a dent in the stigma.

"I gotta thank DeMar. He tweeted me this morning, I got back to him," Love said. "It just opened the door for other athletes and people in power and influential people, just to speak out about this topic because it is so prevalent and it really looks like it was needed. We need to beat down that stigma about mental health and be able to to come out and talk things out."

Love added it's been therapeutic for him to address his demons and talk about them publicly, and that spreading the message could become "life work" for him.