Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin is in the final year of his contract, and he has a strong endorsement from his best player to continue in the job.
LeBron James said Griffin is fully deserving of a new contract, saying it would make “no sense” if he didn’t get one.
“It makes no sense why he shouldn’t get an extension,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “He’s pulled every move — he’s tried to make every move happen — to better this team to be able to compete for a championship. So we wouldn’t be in this position, obviously, without him and without the guys that are here — from the coaching staff to the players to Griff. He’s been a big piece of it.”
James cited Griffin’s mid-season work over the last two seasons as evidence to back up his assertion.
“He went out, we needed some interior help, he went out and got Timo [Timofey Mozgov],” James said. “We needed some perimeter defense, some perimeter shooting, he made a trade to be able to get Swish [J.R. Smith] and Shump [Iman Shumpert]. And that was the start of it. We needed more interior depth, he got Perk [Kendrick Perkins]. We got guys. We brought guys in. We needed some more athletic wings, he made a move, I don’t know how he finagled it to get RJ [Richard Jefferson] here. And so on and so on …
“I mean, all the guys that are here. We wanted a stretch-4 to help Kev out, we make a trade to get Channing [Frye]. I mean, I can name all the pieces that he’s been able to [acquire].”
Interestingly, it was only a few months back that James was openly criticizing the lack of depth on the roster. Griffin did try to address that too, and James is clearly satisfied with his job performance.
