The Cleveland Cavaliers have interest in Deron Williams, who is in the final season of his deal with the Dallas Mavericks and is making $9 million.

Cleveland has been searching for a backup point guard and will also look at Mario Chalmers and Kirk Hinrich.

Baron Davis also has interest in the job and played six games in the D-League last season. Davis was in Cleveland's locker room and talked to James during their loss in January at the Golden State Warriors.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are working out a series of veterans this week.

Mario Chalmers, Kirk Hinrich and Lance Stephenson are all scheduled to work out for the Cavaliers on Wednesday.

There are a few other free agent prospects that are expected to attend the session as well.

Cleveland has one roster spot available, but could open up another slot should the team elect to waive Chris Andersen who is out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

Chalmers has been recovering from a torn Achilles.

Stephenson is finally healthy following rehabilitation from a groin injury that required surgery in early November. 

LeBron James has heard enough criticism from Charles Barkley and spoke out against the Hall of Famer and longtime TNT commentator.

"He's a hater," James told said. "What makes what he says credible? Because he's on TV?"

"Inappropriate. Whiny. All of the above," Barkley said of James last week. "The Cleveland Cavaliers, they have given him everything he wanted. They have the highest payroll in NBA history. He wanted J.R. Smith last summer, they paid him. He wanted [Iman] Shumpert last summer. They brought in Kyle Korver. He's the best player in the world. Does he want all of the good players? He don't want to compete? He is an amazing player. They're the defending champs."

James initially took the high road when asked about Barkley's recent comments, saying they were "good for the ratings," while defending his competitive spirit.

After ESPN followed up with a story asking Tristan Thompson for his thoughts on Barkley's comments, James chose to speak out again in ardent fashion.

"I'm not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that," James told ESPN. "I'm not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, 'I'm not a role model.' I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.

"All I've done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that."

James' friendships with Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have been called into question, but he pointed out how Barkley remained friendly with Michael Jordan even during the Finals.

"Go watch the '93 Finals when John Paxson hit the shot," James said. "Barkley and Jordan were laughing and joking with each other during one of the games while somebody's shooting a free throw. In the Finals. But, oh, nobody were friends back then."

James also seemed to suggest Barkley continues to remain on TV for strictly financial reasons.

"I know he wanted to retire a long time ago, but he can't," James said. "He's stuck up on that stage every week."

James then issued a challenge, of sorts.

"And if this makes him want to talk to me, the schedule's out there," James said. "He knows every road arena I'll be in. Don't just come up to me at All-Star and shake my hand and smile."

James also talked about the perception that he's running the Cavaliers.

"I collect one paycheck from this," James said of his role with the Cavs. "There's the owner, Griff's [David Griffin] the GM, I'm the player. Screw Charles Barkley."

James put on his baseball cap and offered a parting thought as he prepared to leave the visitors locker room at the American Airlines Center to head to the airport for a flight back to Cleveland.

"I'm tired of biting my tongue," James said. "There's a new sheriff in town."

The Cleveland Cavaliers approached the Philadelphia 76ers about a trade for T.J. McConnell.

Philadelphia declined the Cavaliers' offer of Jordan McRae.

The Sixers acquired McRae in the second round of the 2014 draft. The Sixers sent him to Australia to play for Melbourne United during the 2014-15 season. McRae was waived by the Sixers on Oct. 26, 2015.

"The best thing for me is to just not pay any attention to it," McConnell said Sunday of trade discussions. "If you go looking for it, you are going to find it. And if you don't, it won't find you."

Cleveland wanted him to fulfill a role similar to the one Matthew Dellavedova had with the Cavs the last three seasons as Kyrie Irving's backup.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had an operating loss of $40 million during the 15-16 season, according to a Forbes report.

The Cavaliers had a payroll of $115 million with a luxury tax bill of $54 million. In addition to benefits, cash involved in trades and the team’s share for total NBA player costs to reach the mandated 51% of leaguewide revenue and the Cavaliers spent roughly $185 million last season on their roster.

Despite the NBA's influx of national television money this season, the Cavaliers are likely headed for another huge operating loss.

All NBA team values are up dramatically thanks to the league's $24 billion TV deal signed in 2014, but the Cavaliers' jump has outpaced the league by 18%. Forbes valued the team No. 19 in the NBA at $515 million before the return of LeBron James and $1.1 billion last year, 12th highest in the league. 

The operating loss by the Cavaliers last season is the fifth biggest since Forbes began tracking NBA team finances with the 1997-98 season.

Dan Gilbert is worth $5.1 billion and Quicken Loans Arena is also receiving a subsidy from taxpayers to pay for half of the $140 million renovation.

The Forbes report follows a week in which James and Gilbert are at odds over the spending on the Cavs' payroll.

In addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks reached out to the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers in regards to a Carmelo Anthony trade.

Phil Jackson is determined to find a destination and deal that Anthony would agree to accept before the Feb. 23 NBA trade deadline.

Jackson wants to begin rebuilding around Kristaps Porzingis.

The Clippers are a team that would interest Anthony.

Anthony makes $24.6 million this season and has $54 million remaining over the next two years of his contract. His deal includes a 15 percent trade kicker and a player option for the 2018-19 season.

LeBron James and the leadership of the Cleveland Cavaliers are at odds over payroll spending.

James and team owner Dan Gilbert have different viewpoints on the issue, and it has been straining the relationship.

When James was considering returning to the Cavs in 2014, he pressed Gilbert on if he'd be willing to spend unconditionally on talent regardless of the luxury-tax cost, sources said. Over the course of several meetings with James and his representatives, Gilbert agreed, and James subsequently signed with the team.

Gilbert paid $82 million in salaries and $7 million in luxury tax in 2014-15. Last season, Gilbert paid $107 million in salaries and $54 million in luxury tax. Currently, the Cavs are committed to $127.6 million and $27 million in luxury taxes for this season. The team has spent more than any other NBA team over the three-year span.

James has been frustrated by how the Cavaliers have slowed new spending this season after winning their first title.

Earlier this week, James may have been referring to the team's recent money decisions when he said: "I just hope that we're not satisfied as an organization."

James followed that up, saying in a series of tweets that he was not upset at management: "I not mad or upset at management 'cause [general manager David Griffin] and staff have done a great job...I just feel we still need to improve in order to repeat...if that's what we wanna do."

The comments angered Gilbert, sources said, because James appeared to imply it was an organizational choice whether to improve or not.

James has been particularly focused on the Cavaliers adding a point guard.

After signing one-year contracts in 2014 and 2015, James signed a two-year, $64 million contract last summer. He holds a player option for $36 million for the 2018-19 season.

Ty Lue talked to LeBron James about his comments about the Cleveland Cavaliers needing a playmaker.

A team source said that David Griffin had a 1-on-1 meeting with James, separate from Lue addressing the team as a whole.

Griffin expressed his disappointment in James for the manner in which he shared his thoughts on the roster. 

James' statement will not force Griffin's hand or cause him to speed up his search for what the Cavs need. 

One team source said there was "amazed disbelief" that Jams would question the Cavaliers' commitment to a repeat championship. But another source said the timing of James' comments were "brilliant."

Said Lue on Wednesday, "We have enough on this team to win a championship."

The New York Knicks unsuccessfully tried to engage the Cleveland Cavaliers on a trade centered on Carmelo Anthony for Kevin Love.

The Cavaliers told New York they were not interested in Anthony.

The Knicks would have approached Anthony about waiving his no-trade clause had the Cavaliers expressed interest in the deal.

Although LeBron James and Anthony are incredibly close and have both expressed interest in playing together someday, sources say Cleveland is not prepared to surrender Love to get Anthony.

Asked specifically about his theoretical willingness to play in Cleveland, Anthony said: "I don't think about it -- [that's] not something I think about right now. As far as playing with him, I don't think about that. I can't think about that. You know I'm not thinking about that."

Anthony is earning $24.6 million this season and has two years left on his Knicks contract worth nearly $54 million.

LeBron James has become increasingly impatient with the direction of the Cleveland Cavaliers as they have now lost five of their past seven games.

"I just hope that we're not satisfied as an organization," James told a small group of beat reporters who travel regularly to cover Cleveland's road games. "I just hope we're not satisfied."

Cleveland opted against re-signing Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov during free agency and waived Dahntay Jones. In their place, the Cavs drafted rookie point guard Kay Felder, acquired Mike Dunleavy (who has since been shipped out in the Kyle Korver deal) and signed Chris "Birdman" Andersen.

"We're not better than last year," he said. "From a personnel standpoint."

James has been particularly focused on the Cavaliers' need for a playmaker.

"We need a f---ing playmaker," James said. "I'm not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn't say that."

James made it clear that his frustration is not aimed at any one teammate or person in the front office.

"I'm not singling out anybody," James said. "I'm not. Yeah, we won [the championship], but f---, you know what, let's see if we can do something."