The Cleveland Cavaliers have claimed A.J. Price off waivers.

Price was waived by the Indiana Pacers.

Kyrie Irving has taken an elevated defensive responsibility, admitting that he is taking the most burden on that end in his four-year career.

"My first three years, it was just making excuses of offensive burdens and all this other stuff and at the end of the day, I just have to do it for the greater good of our team," Irving said. "In order for our team to win, I have to be that kind of guy on the defensive end. You can only talk about it for so long and at one point it just has to be done.

"Going into my fourth year, it was just a conscious effort just to have a better focus level on that end," he said. "It starts with that. No matter whom we are playing against, guys are trying to stop me and I got to try to stop other guys. It's the attitude I have every single night. Of the teams, it's their objective to stop me. So in the back of my mind it's like, 'Why can't I be a great defender? I don't understand.' It's just all about effort."

Irving has tried to be a better individual and team defender.

"So it's not as much pressure for other guys to help me," Irving said. "I'd rather help other guys and be in position to help and stop my guy instead of the other way around and always being that guy on film. I was on film a lot for the last three years. You get tired of it after a while. You want to be that guy that your teammates trust on a day in, day out basis."

The Cleveland Cavaliers have recalled center Alex Kirk from the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers exclusively owned and operated NBA Development League team.

Kirk has played in three games (all starts) for the Charge this season with averages of 23.7 points on .483 shooting, 9.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 39.3 minutes per game. He has appeared in two games for the Cavs this season.

LeBron James framed the Cleveland Cavaliers' state as "fragile" after the team dropped to 5-7 with a 110-93 home loss to Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

"We're a very fragile team right now," James said. "Well, we were a fragile team from the beginning. Any little adversity hits us, we just shell up. That's something that will come with experience.

"This is not even the lowest it's going to get for us. You guys know, the lowest it can get is up 17 in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the Finals and losing. It can get that low. Or being up 2-1 and going to Game 4 and lose three straight in the Finals. That's very low. So, I'm very optimistic. I'm very positive. More positive than I thought I would be right now, so, we look at what we did wrong, things that we did well and get ready for Orlando coming in on Monday."

Brendan Haywood has a non-guaranteed contract for next season worth $10.5 million that could a trade chip for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Haywood is aware that the Cavaliers could trade him at any time.

"I don't worry about it because at the end of the day, I can't do anything about it," Haywood told Northeast Ohio Media Group. "If somebody views my contract as an asset or the team feels they can get something in that can help them or shed salary, they're going to do what they're going to do because that's what they have to do."

Haywood, who has appeared in two games this season, is not bothered and understands the business.

"Executives have jobs to do," Haywood said. "They get paid to do their job. My contract is what it is. Worrying about it is not going to do anything about it. If I can't sleep at night, it's not like they're not going to trade me because of it so I might as well go out there, live my life and go on about my business."

LeBron James is averaging the third-most minutes per game in the NBA at 39.1. Fourth and fifth on that list are Kyrie Irving (38.4 mpg) and Kevin Love (37.0 mpg).

"That has to come down," James said Tuesday, referring to the playing time for the Cleveland Cavaliers' Big 3.

"For me, I don't want to do that all year," James added. "Obviously right now it's difficult because we're trying to find a groove and we're trying to find a rhythm and we're trying to find something that you can't really, you don't want to shortcut it but at the same time you gotta be smart about it."

James played 41 minutes in the Cavaliers' 106-97 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday.

The San Antonio Spurs will play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday for the first time since LeBron James returned to the franchise.

“I didn’t even think that was a possibility,” Tim Duncan said of James’ return to Cleveland. “But I respect the fact that he actually did that. He went back home and is trying to do something there, and trying to put a team together and trying to win a championship.

“Honestly I haven’t seen too much of it. Obviously they’re very impressive talent-wise, top to bottom. They have a bunch of all-stars, a bunch of very good players and it’s just about meshing and chemistry right now. Hopefully they don’t find it any time soon.”

The Spurs have faced a James' team three separate times in the Finals.

LeBron James and David Blatt continue to be a work in progress understanding each other.

"Every day we continue to learn each other, as a group, as individuals," James said before the Cleveland Cavaliers' loss on Monday to the Denver Nuggets. "He's an intense guy, very intense guy. Wants to win, wants to do it the right way. He doesn't want to mess around too much with the process, and you can respect that. He gets on us when we do something wrong and he gives us a pat on the back when we do something right. It's been more getting on us than pats on the back thus far, but it's a good thing. It's good for our team."

Blatt was disappointed with the Cavs' energy.

"We just didn't come with the proper mindset and with the energy level that we had the other night and have had the last several games," said Blatt.

"I didn't feel it," James said, refuting that the Cavaliers lacked energy. "It's easy to say that after the fact."

Damian Lillard and LeBron James have been named the NBA's Players of the Week for games played between Nov. 10 and Nov. 16.

In wins over Charlotte, Denver and Brooklyn, Lillard averaged 28.0 points (58.8% FG), 4.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.33 steals.

James led Cleveland to a perfect 3-0 record this past week, averaging 35.0 points on .594 shooting, including .500 (8-16) from beyond the arc, 7.0 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.0 block in 36.7 minutes per game. He posted one double-double and topped 30 points in each game, including a season-high 41 points on November 14 vs. Boston. Among all NBA players this past week, James led the league in points per game, while also being the only player to average at least 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are discussing trading Corey Brewer with multiple teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, according to sources.

The Cavaliers and Rockets view Brewer as a notable boost for their wing depth.

Minnesota is believed to be seeking future assets in exchange for Brewer.

If Brewer winds up in Cleveland, he'd be reunited with Love, with whom he has a close relationship after their well-chronicled success on the fast break as teammates in Minnesota. The Rockets have been known to ‎covet Brewer since last season and they registered trade interest in the 28-year-old even before Brewer had a career-high 51 points against Houston late last season.