NEW YORK — A few years ago, when the Cavaliers were head-hunting for a general manager, resulting in Danny Ferry's hiring, agent Warren LeGarie tried to pressure Nuggets owner E. Stanley Kroenke into giving lame duck GM Kiki Vandeweghe a new contract at a sizable salary spike.
Without his client's knowledge, LeGarie asked Kroenke to allow Vandeweghe to interview for the Cavs' opening. While Vandeweghe probably would not have gotten what he wanted to begin with — Bret Barrup, Kroenke's close friend, was killing him starkly — that leverage play undeniably doomed him in Denver.
It's uncertain what Kroenke disdained more, being blatantly squeezed or the thought of the team's top executive publicly seeking service elsewhere. One way or the other, despite the fact Vandeweghe decided against meeting with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, the damage could not be undone; at season's end, Kiki was a free agent, a fancy term for being unemployed.