When Mike Brown was with the Cavaliers, he had a close working relationship with front office personnel Danny Ferry, Chris Grant and Lance Blanks.

With the Lakers, Brown has more distance from Jerry Buss, Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak.

"The relationship there was really, really tight," Brown said Wednesday. "We never did anything without getting the approval of the other guy. Here, it's a little different. Mitch is the GM, and Jimmy is one of the owners with his dad and whoever else, so they make the personnel decisions. At times they may get my opinion; at times they may not."

Asked about Jim Buss, Brown said: "My relationship with him is fine. ... We don't really have interaction like that when it comes to making trades and all that other stuff. That's usually he and Mitch who are talking, and really I just coach the team. I think he's a good guy. I enjoy working for him. "

Kyrie Irving has averaged 36.4 points per 48 minutes of clutch time, defined as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when neither team is ahead by more than five points.

Irving is quickly developing a reputation as a clutch player.

“He’s not a household name as a closer, but we have a young man in [Irving] who can close games out,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said. “He’s proven that.”

Irving’s clutch time production ranks 15th in the league, ahead of notable closers Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Paul Pierce.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will defend his Taco Bell Skills Challenge title against a field consisting of Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, John Wall of the Washington Wizards, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets.

The 2012 Taco Bell Skills Challenge will take place on Feb. 25, at Amway Center in Orlando.

The pursuit of Gilbert Arenas by the Lakers appears to also be tied to a possible trade for Ramon Sessions.

Sources believe the Lakers can acquire Sessions for a first round pick.

If they are unable to acquire Sessions or a comprable player, the Lakers may then turn to Arenas.

Anderson Varejao will need four to six weeks to recover from his broken wrist.

There remains a chance Varejao’s season is over.

Byron Scott said it will depend on whether Varejao misses closer to the four weeks or the six weeks and where the Cavs are in the standings when he is cleared to return.

“If he’s healthy, Andy wants to play,” Scott said. “It would be hard for me to keep him out of there if he’s healthy.”

While practicing in Cleveland on Thursday, LeBron James talked about the possibility of playing for the Cavaliers again.

"You can't predict future," said James. "If I decide to come back hopefully the fans will accept me."

James also talked about the reaction to his decision from Dan Gilbert.

"He said what he said out of anger. He probably would want to take that back but I made a mistake too."

The Cavaliers have announced that Anderson Varejao has a fractured right wrist.

Varejao suffered the injury in a loose ball situation against the Bucks Friday night.

A timeline for his return to action will be established next week after further testing.

He was averaging 10.8 points and 11.5 rebounds.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Ben Uzoh from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League.

In 12 games (all starts), Uzoh has averaged 16.8 points on .525 shooting, 6.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals in 34.4 minutes per game with the Vipers.

The NBA has announced the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge participants on Wednesday.

Sophomores selected include DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Landry Fields (New York Knicks), Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers), Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz), Greg Monroe (Detroit Pistons), Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs), Evan Turner (Philadelphia 76ers) Paul George (Indiana Pacers), and John Wall (Washington Wizards).

Freshmen selected include Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves), Brandon Knight (Detroit Pistons), Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs), Markieff Morris (Phoenix Suns), Marshon Brooks (New Jersey Nets), Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers), Kemba Walker (Charlotte Bobcats) and Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves).