Cavaliers promote Greg Buckner to associate head coach

The Cavaliers are promoting assistant Greg Buckner to associate head coach of the team, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. As shared by Wojnarowski, Buckner played a key role in helping Cleveland become a strong defensive team last season.

Buckner spent 11 years in the NBA as a player from 1998-2009. He joined the Rockets as a player development coach in 2011, then became an assistant with the Grizzlies in 2017. He joined the Cavaliers in 2020.

Cleveland finished with a 44-38 record this season, dealing with several injuries throughout the year. The team lost in the play-in tournament and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference tonight:

• Celtics center Robert Williams III tweaked his knee and asked to come out of Game 4 on Friday, head coach Ime Udoka said, as relayed by Anthony Slater of The Athletic. However, Williams is hopeful to play in Game 5. The shot-blocking big man has dealt with knee soreness for several weeks. Williams said he feels better and is relieved to have more of his usual explosion lately, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
• The Sixers‘ recent handling of a third star hasn’t been good, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. If Philadelphia pursues a trade for another star, Pompey believes the team must make sure he’s the right fit. As it stands, the Sixers are headlined by James Harden and Joel Embiid, but the team also has two quality players in Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris behind them. This group alone combined to score 86.3 points per game last season.
• James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star examines whether Malcolm Brogdon has played his last game with the Pacers. Brogdon played a career-low 36 games this past season with Indiana, who could explore his value on the trade market during the offseason. He averaged 19.1 points per contest on 45% shooting last year.