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The team will play its home games at Rocket Arena in Downtown Cleveland, with the Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence set to become the Cleveland WNBA team's exclusive training and practice facility. Support for the WNBA in Cleveland has been widespread, from nearly 9,000 initial down payments for season tickets to founding partners signing on, like Progressive, which has claimed the sponsored patch chest and abdomen placements on the team’s jersey.
Sources say the 23-year-old Kuminga wants an annual deal in the $15-20 million range, which would necessitate a sign-and-trade with Atlanta involving either swingman Max Strus or Dennis Schroder. The Hawks, already with 17 players on the roster and incredibly close to the luxury tax, would have to cooperate — and actually want what Cleveland, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers or Milwaukee Bucks are willing to offer in a sign-and-trade.
Although the deal has not yet been made official, sources tell cleveland.com that the Cavaliers are working through the proper steps to get Hezonja released from his Real Madrid pact and there is no concern about the agreed-to deal being in jeopardy. Cleveland’s expectation is Hezonja will be in the team’s every-night rotation, providing much-needed frontcourt depth after the team lost versatile forward Dean Wade to the Sixers in free agency.
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And then he walked out of the house to field a flood of calls. "I walked around the block probably for two hours," Gansey said. "Some of my neighbors were coming out looking at me like, 'What the hell? You took him!' "Being in Cleveland, obviously, a little bittersweet, I guess."
Draymond Green: "If you go back to Cleveland, even if you go back to Cleveland and win a championship, it's not going to be as good as 2016. So you can only really go mess that up. And if you go to Miami and win a championship, it's not going to be as good as 2012, 2013. So those two places kind of got eliminated just because of that. I ultimately don't think LeBron was ever able to get over the history."
Marc Stein: Cleveland has yet to formally sign Mario Hezonja but is “working through" the needed steps, one source close to the process tells @TheSteinLine, to make the deal official. Hezonja and the Cavaliers agreed to a one-year minimum deal Sunday after LeBron James chose Philadelphia.
To answer a popular question in our Substack Chat room: Sources say that the Hawks have indeed made their interest in Jarrett Allen known to Cleveland for some time, but I'm told that Cleveland still has not entertained moving its starting center.
What's clear in Cleveland: Even after the signing of Mario Hezonja, sources with knowledge of the Cavaliers' thinking insisted Monday that they continue to maintain Kuminga interest. The problem: Cleveland's lack of available salary-cap space means it would require a sign-and-trade to add Kuminga. And sources say that the Cavaliers, because they are already hard-capped at the first apron, have found it challenging to assemble a trade construction that Atlanta would find suitable.
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Heat Central: REPORT: The Miami Heat are targeting DeMar DeRozan and Klay Thompson, per @ShamsCharania “I’m told Miami, Denver, and Cleveland are among the teams interested in DeMar DeRozan… There is a player out west that is overlapping with DeRozan as far as interest from teams. That is Klay Thompson. I’m told the Heat are among several championship contending teams that are monitoring Thompsons situation potentially via trade or buyout.”
Bobby Marks: Unlike his prior stops in Cleveland and LA Lakers, LeBron James was not allowed to include a No Trade Clause in his contract with Philadelphia. NTC rule: 8 years in the NBA and 4 years with the signing team Contract breakdown 2026-27: $3,876,529 2027-28: $4,070,355 (P)
Marc Stein: The Cavaliers were revealed below late Wednesday/early Thursday as a team pursuing Mario Hezonja. Now Cleveland — after LeBron James chose Philadelphia in free agency — has a one-year deal with Hezonja, who was drafted No. 5 overall in 2015 and last played in the NBA in 2019-20.
"You can see from the end of the season ... the emotional attachments and how hard it is to go away from a Miami and go away from a Cleveland," Paul said on his "Game Over" podcast with Max Kellerman. "Who wouldn't want to play with Steph Curry and Draymond Green. I'm seeing the emotional roller coaster every single day. "... Home is home [in Cleveland]. Miami is Miami. It's Pat [Riley]. ... I think that everyone was at some point leading the race."