In his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, forward Georges Niang established himself as a consistent member of the team’s rotation.
He spent the prior two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, and on an episode of “The Bench Seat,” he recalled a time when he almost came to blows with Orlando Magic big man Moritz Wagner.
“So we’re in Philly, and they weren’t having a great year,” said Niang. “It was the end of the year, and we had back-to-back games, and they ended up beating us. I was in garbage time, and Mo was in there, and he f—— hammered me and laid the ball in, and he was like, ‘Too slow!’ … And him just doing it to just bust my chops.
“I was so in my feelings, I was like, ‘Shut the f— up,’ and usually after the game, you go and dap people up. So I was looking for him, and Mo didn’t dap anyone up. … So I got to the locker room, and we have a group chat and I was like, ‘Mo if you ever do that again, I’m going to f— you up. And as a matter of fact, meet me in the back hallway so we can talk about it. Meet me f—— now.’
“I was pissed. And then I get back there, and we were just hugging each other.”
Niang has made a name for himself as a reliable 3-point shooter ever since he came in as a second-round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Although his 3-point accuracy dipped a bit last season with Cleveland, he has a career mark of 39.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Despite being just 6-foot-7, he has shown himself capable of holding down the power forward spot when needed, as he weighs 230 pounds.
Wagner plays along with his brother Franz on the Magic. Moritz Wagner averaged 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds a game this past season, while Franz Wagner put up 19.7 points per contest and is considered something of a rising star forward.
The Cavs are trying to figure out how to take the next step in the Eastern Conference. Last season, they finally got back to the playoffs and won a series there for the first time since LeBron James’ departure in 2018, but they have seemingly hit a plateau. They fell to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in five games during the Eastern Conference semifinals.
They have largely the same roster they ended that series with, so they will need internal improvement in order to compete with teams such as the Celtics, New York Knicks and 76ers when it matters most.
