Anderson Varejão Won’t Accept Championship Ring From Cavaliers

Anderson Varejão spent part of last season with the Cavaliers but reportedly says he won't accept a championship ring from Cleveland.

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Complex Original

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Even though his team didn't win the 2016 NBA Finals, Anderson Varejão still managed to make NBA history in June when he became the only player to ever play for both teams to make the NBA Finals in the same season. Varejão started the 2015-16 NBA season with the Cavaliers before being traded to the Trail Blazers in February so that Cleveland could complete a trade for Channing Frye. And once Portland waived him, he signed a deal with the Warriors less than a week later. He ended up playing in 31 regular season games for Cleveland and 22 regular season games, plus 17 playoff games, for Golden State.

Because of that, it was widely assumed that Varejão was guaranteed to win a championship ring no matter who hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy at the end of the postseason in June. Ideally, he would have won one with the Warriors, since that's the team he was playing for, but he also could have claimed one from Cleveland since he spent time with the Cavaliers during the first half of last season. Varejão spent 12 years playing for the Cavs—including quite a few down years, post-LeBron James' "Decision"—so no one would have blamed him for stepping up and asking his former team for a ring.

It doesn't sound like he's going to do it, though, and as a result, he won't "win" his first championship ring. Cleveland.com is reporting that the Cavs have no intention of sending Varejão a ring unless he specifically asks for one, and according to NBA reporter Sam Amico, Varejão isn't planning on doing that:

That seems like a move the 33-year-old might regret at some point, especially since he probably doesn't have a lot of life left in his NBA career. But Varejão did just re-sign with the Warriors and they did just sign a guy by the name of the Kevin Durant and make themselves the team to beat next season, so Varejão might end up getting his championship ring anyway. It just won't be a ring representing the team that signed him to his first NBA deal way back in 2004.

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