NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Brown Says Cavs Will Pursue LeBron
Updated15 Oct 2021
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Former Cavs head coach Mike Brown was with James in Cleveland. He knows him well. He knows what would be appealing to the King. Brown was also with the Cavs last season so he knows what Cleveland is thinking when it comes to this enormous off-season.
Brown joined The Dan LeBatard Show on Sports Talk 104.3 The Ticket and hinted at the Cavs’ off-season plan.
“I think they will definitely try to make a run at him,” Brown said. “With him being from this area it makes more sense for Cleveland to go after him than any other team besides the Miami Heat.”
When Brown was asked whether he thinks James would consider a return to the city where his NBA career got started, Brown responded by saying, “I don’t know.” He then spoke about the lure of returning home.
These comments are interesting since Mike Brown recently worked for the Cavaliers and likely has a good idea of what their rebuilding plan looks like. If he says that the team will “definitely try to make a run” at LeBron James, there’s a good chance he knows what he’s talking about.
Really, it’s a no-brainer for the Cavs to pursue James. It’s a long shot that he’ll return to Cleveland, but they have to try to bring him back, right?
The team has $36,189,162 in guaranteed commitments for next season, meaning they have the cap room to be major players in free agency this offseason.
With that said, there’s no guarantee that James will exercise his early termination option this summer and hit the free agent market. And if he does, he may not be interested in a Cavaliers reunion.
But as long as the Cavaliers have cap space and James is available, this story will continue to surface.
The Sterling family trust has signed an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
The agreement was signed Thursday and was sent straight to the NBA for final approval, sources said.
Banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling, 80, recently was found by experts to be incapacitated, allowing his wife, Shelly Sterling, to become the sole trustee and giving her the power to deal directly with Ballmer under guidelines previously established in the Sterling family trust, sources told Shelburne and ESPN’s Darren Rovell. The rules of the trust did not require a court hearing first, according to sources.
Donald Sterling has yet to sign off on this deal, according to his representatives, but he has been ruled mentally incapacitated, which is how his wife Shelly was able to become the sole trustee and sell the team to Steve Ballmer.
Shelly had previously said in interviews that she thought her husband was developing dementia, and that may have contributed to the experts’ ruling on his mental state.
Ballmer’s $2 billion beats out bids by music mogul David Geffen ($1.6 billion) and L.A. investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh ($1.2 billion).
Because Ballmer has previously been vetted by the NBA, this process could move along quickly. Had he not been vetted in the past, that would’ve added an additional month to the timetable.
It remains to be seen how Donald Sterling will respond to this, especially since he just submitted a 32-page document fighting that NBA’s charges against him.
Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger insisted that the franchise’s foundation is as secure as the FedExForum practice court wall he leaned against Thursday afternoon. “The stability going forward is rock solid,” he said. Joerger addressed a throng of local media about recent developments and what’s to come with the franchise. He revealed that he’ll have input on the process of hiring a general manager although Joerger wouldn’t say if he’s submitted a list of candidates. “The plan is not going to be revealed. But the process has begun,” Joerger said, explaining that the next GM has to be the best fit for the organizational structure going forward.
There has been a ton of drama behind the scenes in Memphis over the last few weeks, but it seems that things are finally starting to calm down.
The organization parted ways with executives Jason Levien and Stu Lash, undergoing a major shakeup in their front office. However, it seems that the chaos is coming to a halt and the franchise is moving on and focusing on the future.
Despite flirtations with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Grizzlies have decided to bring back head coach Dave Joerger now that he is on the same page as owner Robert Pera.
The team is also beginning its search for a new general manager, with Chris Wallace filling in as the interim GM in the meantime.
Joerger and Pera insist that their communication is better than ever and that they’re looking forward to working together, and today Joerger said that team’s foundation is “rock solid” and stable. It seems that Joerger will have more influence moving forward, as the article states that his input will be considered as the team hires a general manager.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in Memphis, but things are finally starting to die down.
