CLEVELAND — Los Angeles Clippers forward Nicolas Batum had the inside scoop on the Cavaliers hiringKenny Atkinson in June, and the veteran player immediately concluded it would be a good fit.
Batum signed with the Clippers early in the 2020-21 season and watched how well Atkinson operated as an assistant under LA coach Tyronn Lue, who was at the helm of Cleveland's 2016 NBA championship team.
Then Batum played for Atkinson again as a member of Team France. They took silver together in the Paris Olympics, falling 98-87 to the United States on Aug. 10 in the gold medal game.
“In France, we were training for the Olympics,” Batum told the Beacon Journal on Sunday before
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