LeBron James is fine with anything the Cleveland Cavaliers are doing to deepen the roster, even if that means bringing in some of his old on-court enemies.
Guards Mario Chalmers, Jordan Farmar, Kirk Hinrich, and forward Lance Stephenson all worked out for Cleveland on Wednesday. The unconventional midseason tryout session was met with the support of James, who has been critical of Cleveland’s roster construction recently.
“I got a history with all those guys except Jordan,” James said Wednesday, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I got a history with Lance too, obviously. I got a history versus Kirk. I played him in a lot of playoff series. And I got a history with Rio [Chalmers]. … At the end of the day, Rio is recovering from his Achilles tear. I hope he’s been doing everything he needs to do just to get back on the floor. He loves to play the game.
“I’m a supporter of what this franchise wants to do, no matter what it’s doing. But my focus right now is to get our guys playing championship-level basketball.”
James clarified that he had no issue with Stephenson in particular, who infamously blew in James’s ear as a distraction tactic in a 2014 playoff series.
“I just want to win, man,” James said. “That’s all that matters to me. I got no personal problems with nobody.”
Given James’s recent complaints about the team’s lack of bodies, he’s certainly not going to complain about the team looking at a few established NBA veterans on the cheap – even if one of them is Stephenson.
