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Maxey was an unquestionable key factor in the 76ers' landing James. Maxey had a strong relationship with James, as both are represented by Klutch Sports. With James joining a new team that has lots of egos and needs, having a connection with the point guard was an edge for Philly. Some will say Harden's role as Cleveland's point guard affected James' decision, but there is more nuance than that. It's not that the Cavs having Harden was a factor, sources said, but rather who the Cavs did not have. To get Harden from the LA Clippers in February, the Cavs traded Darius Garland, a Klutch-repped point guard with whom James has had a yearslong relationship. In the end, there were three strikes against Cleveland: Family not being an issue in LeBron's choice, the front office not making a deal for Brown and the Cavs' roster not featuring Garland. To say it was one of these factors more than the other might be missing the big picture.
"[Donovan] Mitchell, [James] Harden, [Evan] Mobley, [Jarrett] Allen. Dan and Grant -- which is the Gilberts. Plus Koby [Altman], he was there when LeBron won there," Paul said. "Big, big, big X factor, let me talk to you about Brandon Weems," who is the Cavs' assistant GM under the president of basketball operations, Altman, and was a childhood friend and James' high school teammate. "Brandon Weems is basically LeBron's brother," Paul said. "Now, he worked his own way [up], nobody gave him anything. He's earned to be in the front office of the Cavs. "But that is a big feather in the cap [for Cleveland], because of Brandon Weems." Paul added that the Cavs would have been even more appealing had the roster still featured fellow Klutch client Darius Garland, who was traded to the LA Clippers for Harden last season. "This is no offense to Harden," Paul said. "Because he loves Garland like he loves Maxey."
Sources say that Leonard's willingness to sign an extension with the Raptors were he to be traded back to Toronto, as The Stein Line also reported Thursday, has opened the door for a trade to progress to completion. If the Clippers, that is, can ultimately bear to move on from The Kawhi Era. It's believed that the Clippers, furthermore, would have interest in Toronto's offer because adding Ingram — who earned All-Star status last season — should be able to help keep LA sufficiently competitive in the West as it gradually shifts into a youth movement that features the likes of recently acquired Darius Garland and No. 5 overall pick Keaton Wagler.
Mikel Brown conducted a workout for the Clippers in LA on Thursday and also has traction as a candidate here. Sources say the Clippers have interest in Darius Acuff Jr., but his fit with a similar-sized guard in Garland is an obstacle.
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Lonzo Ball believes the Cleveland Cavaliers hurt their championship chances when they moved on from him and Darius Garland, arguing that the team would have achieved greater playoff success had the backcourt remained intact. Reflecting on the organization’s decision, Ball questioned whether the move aligned with a win-now approach and suggested the previous group was capable of making a deeper postseason run. “If you were trying to win a championship, I don’t think that’s the path you should’ve taken,” the player said.
Garland doesn't think LeBron will head back to the Cavs “Sunny days, 75 every day. … It’s 40 there now," Garland said Tuesday on "Ball In The Family Podcast".
The 26-year-old point guard also discussed how he found his joy back playing for the Clippers. "It's been great, bro," Garland added. "Coming to a system where I can actually be me. Have the ball in my hand for the majority of the game and actually have control of the pace of the game. Just being like a second coach out there, literally. It was fun when I was out there playing, for sure. I got my joy back."
That plan probably changed at the trade deadline. Their acquisition of Darius Garland, while giving them a better player than one they could realistically have signed in free agency, also wiped out a meaningful chunk of their cap space. They can now generate up to $30 million, but doing so would also require renouncing the cap holds for all of their free agents. Not only would they lose several players on team options to access that room, but they would also be sacrificing the Bird rights to Bennedict Mathurin and John Collins.
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Atkinson took the 2025 playoff failure hard and rewatched every possession from the series against Indiana, looking for what went wrong. He was hard on his staff, numerous league sources said, in part because he felt he couldn’t be overly hard on the players. But at the same time, with Darius Garland and Max Strus out to start the regular season, Atkinson tried to lean on Evan Mobley to be more of an offensive threat. Both he and the team struggled with that priority.
How do you make the Clippers again as relevant as you guys did? Darius Miles: I think that you just have to kind of clean slate, make some moves. I love Kawhi Leonard. I love Kawhi Leonard as a Clipper. I don’t want to let him go, but he’s probably the only one that you have to have some leverage to get out there and get some more picks or get some more players. I think it’s time for them probably to let Kawhi go, which I hate to say, but I think they need to clean slate it. They got a young Darius Garland. They got Bennett. They’re just going in a new direction. So I think this pick and them using Kawhi Leonard can make enough moves to kind of give them a nice young team that can play.
New Balance executive Chris Davis: If you look at the NBA, I’m pretty sure we have seven or eight All-Stars, starting with Kawhi (Leonard) to Zach LaVine, Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Dejounte Murray, Darius Garland, and then enter Cooper Flagg. In this year’s draft, we have Caleb Wilson, who is a star freshman from North Carolina and will be a top-five pick. And then as a senior in high school, we have Jordan Smith Jr., who’s the top recruit in the country going into the NCAA; he’s committed to Arkansas. So that’s what the basketball landscape looks like.
