Jake Fischer Latest: Saying goodbye to the best team in the East

Georges Niang and Caris LeVert describe what it's like to be on the other side of a blockbuster after being dealt from 62-win Cleveland to Atlanta at the trade deadline

Georges Niang has long ranked as one of my favorite players, dating back to his days scorching nets for Iowa State. Undersized big, underrated handle, passing chops to complement a sweet stroke ... all emanating from a far-from-Herculean figure who wore my treasured No. 31.

What's not to love?

We crossed paths one night at The Cosmo during Summer League in July 2021. I was meeting some Warriors folks for drinks and they all brightened at the sight of The Minivan, as Niang became known after playing for Golden State's G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. He'd just signed a two-year, $6.7 million deal with my hometown 76ers … and with my parents in the process of selling my childhood home not too far removed from Philadelphia's sparkling practice facility in Camden, N.J.

Knowing that Niang is as much comedian as sharpshooter — don't forget that the man is a career 40% shooter from distance — I proposed that he buy the place to set himself up with a nice concrete court we had poured into the backyard. He looked like he actually considered the idea for a moment ... to the point that we exchanged numbers. He never followed through, not surprisingly, but I made plenty of trips down from New York to the Sixers' neighborhood even after Mom and Dad relocated. On one assignment the following winter, I profiled Shake Milton, admittedly because we had also brokered the access to sit down with a guy named Joel Embiid. I was waiting for Milton to emerge from the locker room while the Sixers' PR team filmed a jumbotron package with Niang. Comedy predictably ensued.

Veterans are accustomed to this part of the business — reading out cheesy, holiday-themed scripts they know will play during some timeout huddle. Niang, though, kept stumbling over the prompt. He kept repeating an exuberant "Seasons Greetings!" to start each take, vacuuming in a giant breath before each do-over, over and over and over again, to the point that I have it on my mind (and a can't-forget-it look on my face) every time he and I run into each other.

That latest occasion came two weeks ago in Atlanta, where Niang is once again shooting north of 40% from 3-point land after the Hawks acquired him and Caris LeVert in exchange for De'Andre Hunter just before the trade deadline. He spotted me from his locker as he slid into jorts and a faded band T-shirt and blurted out: "Jake! You're a long way from Philly, brother."

"And you're a long way from Cleveland."