SH Blog: Shawn Marion To Sign With Cleveland

Free agent Shawn Marion is reportedly set to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Reports have been coming in for days that Marion was leaning towards Cleveland.

The four time all-star has been linked to other teams that have been attempting to acquire his services, including the Indiana Pacers. As an NBA veteran it makes sense that Marion was only interested in a contender, and signing with Cleveland will be an ideal situation for someone attempting to win another championship.

The 36 year old forward has spent the last five seasons playing for the Dallas Mavericks, where he won a championship in 2011.

Cleveland is a team filled with youth, but lacking in veteran leadership and defensive sensibilities at the moment. Bringing a seasoned player like Shawn Marion along in light of the LeBron James return will help bolster them in both of those areas.

The report came from ESPN’s Marc Stein.

Sources told ESPN.com that Marion informed the Cavaliers this weekend that he intends to sign with them this month, despite the fact that Cleveland can only offer him a minimum deal.

Sources told ESPN.com that Marion informed the Cavaliers this weekend that he intends to sign with them this month, despite the fact that Cleveland can only offer him a minimum deal.

Shawn Marion will be joining forces with LeBron James in Cleveland, according to sources.
The chance to play with LeBron James and immediately compete for a championship, sources said, clinched Marion’s decision to choose Cleveland in the face of a ramped-up pursuit by the Indiana Pacers.

As ESPN.com reported earlier this week, Pacers president Larry Bird invited Marion to Indianapolis earlier this week for a face-to-face recruiting pitch over dinner, with Indiana in desperate need of veteran help on the wing after the season-ending compound leg fracture suffered by star swingman Paul George on Aug. 1.

At a news conference Tuesday, Bird conceded that the Cavaliers were the favorites for Marion’s signature, saying: “What I came away with was he’s undecided with where he wants to play and what he wants to do. But he does want to play for a contender.”

The Cavaliers have widely been considered to be the front-runners to sign Marion since it emerged that they’re poised to complete a trade for Minnesota’s Kevin Love later this month. Cleveland is restricted to offering Marion a minimum salary of $1.4 million this season after using all of its cap resources and exceptions elsewhere.

Other News Around The League:

• According to NetsDaily.com, Andrei Kirilenko made good on a promise he made win 2011 to donate his salary to a Moscow orphanage. The story first appeared in an interview Kirilenko did with the editor-in-chief of Russia’s PROSport magazine, Stanislav Gridassov:

Gridassov:

“When you came back from NBA to CSKA Moscow for one season, you announced that you would give all of the contract money to charity. Who received that money?”

Kirilenko:

“Most of it went into Moscow orphanage number 59 – we repaired it, and built a basketball court there. Also, we have bought gear for teams participating inSchool Basket. We have repaired gyms in many schools.”

• Milwaukee Bucks rookie Jabari Parker has told reporters that he’s not trying to be remembered as a second round pick that pans out to be a bust. According to Brett Pollakoff of NBC Sports ProBasketballTalk: “There’s been a lot of second pick busts,” Parker said Saturday morning, at the grand opening of the redesigned Jordan space inside Nike Chicago. “I’m just trying not to be that bust. Everyday that I step on the court, I just remind myself that I have a long ways to go. If I want to be one of those guys in the first tier of the NBA, like a LeBron, like a Kobe, like a [Blake Griffin], then I have to have that mentality starting off from the ground, and work my way up.”

 

• University of Kentucky coach John Calipari said that he would never have went to Cleveland even if he knew LeBron James was returning Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal reports: Despite reports that he was in serious talks with Cleveland – and ultimately turned down the Cavs earlier this summer – Calipari was “not as (close) as everybody thought” to leaving for the NBA. But James, who Calipari has said he’d love to coach, had not made his decision at that point. Would that have made a difference? “No. No. I don’t think so. Because he and I have a great relationship, but it’s not based on me coaching him,” Calipari said. “We’ve got a relationship. I’ve known him for years and years. We’ve always been friends. But it was never based on that. I’ve said that.

 

• Golden State Warriors have announced that guard Shaun Livingston will be out for six to eight weeks to after having surgery on his right toe. From NBA.com:  The Warriors said Friday that Livingston’s toe will be in a splint for the first three weeks of his recovery. The team says the procedure was performed Wednesday by Dr. Richard Ferkel at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys. Golden State signed Livingston to a three-year contract worth about $16 million in July. The team says he was diagnosed with a sprained right big toe at the time and his foot was placed in a cast. The Warriors say Livingston was re-evaluated last week and it was determined that surgery was needed.

• The Sacramento Kings made history on Friday when they signed Sim Bhullar, the first player of Indian descent to sign with an NBA team. From the Associated Press:  ”While Sim is the first player of Indian descent to sign with an NBA franchise, he represents one of many that will emerge from that region as the game continues to garner more attention and generate ever-increasing passion among a new generation of Indian fans.”

 

Esau Howard is a regular contributor to Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on Twitter.