LeBron James empowered his agent Rich Paul to meet with several teams to Klutch’s offices in Cleveland for free-agent presentations without him present.

Those meetings were leaked to the public and the perception was that they were conducted to garner attention to their agency.

The Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks met with Paul, in addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Just used as props to get attention and publicize their business,” one league executive told Yahoo Sports. “Maybe that’s smart to some people, but you have to deal with the same people again and again in this league. Those things can come back on you eventually.”

Dan Gilbert believes getting Kyrie Irving signed to a max contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers was critical in landing LeBron James in free agency and then trading for Kevin Love.

"The moment we signed Kyrie was really the beginning of our historical summer," Gilbert said. "The fact that he committed to us long‑term and just a few minutes after the time you're allowed to have negotiations and extend your player, that is a major, pivotal moment.

"If that doesn't happen, that has to put doubt in any free agent including LeBron or whoever. Because if your top player, who has been with you for three years, isn't willing to extend, which is rare in the NBA, that would put a serious derailment on what we were doing. And he didn't hesitate. He committed. He believed in what we were doing and we believe in him. I can't underscore how important that was."

LeBron James has decided to bring back the chalk toss in his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

James held a public vote with 95 percent voting for the chalk toss.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are nearing agreement with Anderson Varejao on a three-year, $30 million extension.

Varejao is the longest tenured member of the Cavaliers, joining the club in 2004.

Varejao turned 32 last month and has been a productive player when healthy.

LeBron James and Dan Gilbert are ready to begin their first season back together again and are on good terms as the Cleveland Cavaliers look to win their first NBA championship.

"I think it's really good," James said when asked about his rapport with the Cavs' owner. "We had one bad moment, and it just overshadowed all the great times we had together, and now we're back together.

"We both have something in common: That's to bring a championship back to this city, and that's what it comes down to. That's what our thrive is, that's what our drive is, and we have an opportunity and we have an obligation to represent this team and this franchise the right way."

Gilbert described their relationship as "very good, very solid." 

Gilbert and James are even joking with each other.

"I just saw LeBron," Gilbert said during a news conference Wednesday, addressing the media for the first time since February. "He looked at me and said, 'Looks like you grew an inch.' I said I could use it."

Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers have stalled in their extension talks ahead of Friday's deadline.

Thompson is represented by Klutch Sports and LeBron James' agent and business partner Rich Paul.

James holds extreme power within the Cavs organization, and he played a key role in advising on the trade that brought Kevin Love to the team for a package that included No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins over the summer.

Recently, James inserted himself into the talks with Paul client Eric Bledsoe when he encouraged the Phoenix Suns to increase their contract offer via social media.

Both league executives and agents are closely watching how the Thompson talks play out as a gauge for how involved James is making himself in the team's front-office moves.

Thompson also has a positive relationship with Dan Gilbert, who advocated for selecting him over Jonas Valanciunas.

The sides both remain hopeful they will get a long-term deal with Thompson worked out this week, sources said. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers are engaged in serious talks with center Anderson Varejao on a contract extension, according to sources

Talks have progressed in recent weeks, but there's no agreement imminet.

Varejao played 65 games for Cleveland a season ago, averaging 8.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in 27 minutes a game

The Cleveland Cavaliers have exercised the fourth-year contract option on guard Dion Waiters.

Waiters owns career averages of 15.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 29.2 minutes per game in 131 games (72 starts) in his two seasons with the Cavaliers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have waived forward Shane Edwards.

The Cavs roster now stands at 15.

Edwards appeared in six preseason games for the Cavs, averaging 1.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game.

Kevin Love wrote a first-person essay called "How I Spent My Summer Vacation", which details his trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"I grew up a lot – personally and professionally – during my time with the Wolves," writes Love. "I’ll be the first to tell you that I didn’t always handle things perfectly. We are all unfinished products. It’s not easy to handle the disappointment of losing when you’re in your early twenties. There were times when I wasn’t easy to be around in the locker room. It’s hard to be a leader when you don’t have the model — and when you don’t have a blueprint for what winning in the NBA looks like.

"But I make no excuses. I posted my best personal numbers last season, and we still didn’t make the playoffs. Some of the backlash was pretty hard to take — I learned that there is apparently such a thing as an “empty stat” (I’ll try to remember the importance of that the next time I am boxing out for a rebound against Tim Duncan).

"In the end, I was given the opportunity to move on, and I took it. My decision was about wanting to win. When I think back to being a kid shooting on an eight-foot hoop in my Shawn Kemp jersey, I never dreamed about putting up a triple-double or signing a max contract. I dreamed about holding up a championship trophy. In order to get to that place, I knew that I needed to move on."