It happened more than a year ago, shortly after a preseason game between the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Byron Scott was coaching the Hornets; Baron Davis was playing a point guard for the Clippers. The two men had been connected previously in New Orleans, but it was an 18-game marriage that ended badly. Before this particular preseason game, they had not spoken, and barely acknowledged each other, for quite some time.
But Davis reached out to Scott through a teammate, writing a letter of apology and eventually saying he was sorry face to face. It nearly brought Scott to tears.
"I was very touched. I was speechless," Scott said of Davis' gesture.
Scott and Davis talked things out, and Scott got on the team bus.
"My wife was sitting next to me, and I was like, "Wow, I can't believe that he came to me and apologized for everything and said some of the things he said," Scott remembered. "He gave me a big hug and said, 'I love you and thank you for everything." I was shocked. From that point on, the relationship has been very good.
Scott is now in his first year as coach of the Cavaliers; Davis is in his first week as the team's veteran point guard after arriving in a trade-deadline deal.
The Cavs are 1-0 with Davis in the lineup after winning a close game in New York on Friday.
Davis scored 18 points in that game, coming off the bench and displaying the skills that made him a two-time All-Star. He is also has matured since his Hornets days. Back then, he was in his mid-20s and, admittedly, still growing up. He turns 32 next month.
Scott and Davis get to face their old team Sunday night as the Hornets pay their lone visit this season to Cleveland (6:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports Ohio).
That means Davis again gets to face the player who replaced him with the Hornets, All-Star point guard Chris Paul. Interestingly, the entire reason Paul is with the Hornets is because Scott more or less pushed Davis out the door.
But all of that is ancient history. The Cavs are now rebuilding their franchise, the Hornets trying to position themselves for a playoff run.
And when it comes to the Cavs, Scott and Davis are perhaps the most important keys to the immediate, and even long-term, future.
That once seemed unimaginable. But Davis apologized, Scott accepted and now they are happy to move on together.
Cavs notes
* Cavs forward Samardo Samuels is averaging 19 points and eight rebounds since moving into the starting lineup two games ago. Samuels went undrafted out of Louisville, but is displaying the skills that made him the USA Today national high school player of the year in 2008.
* Samuels might get a break tonight, too. Tough and talented Hornets big man David West could miss the game. West left Friday's game against Memphis in the first quarter (and didn't return) after spraining his ankle.
* Cavs guard Daniel Gibson is out again with a lingering quad issue. Gibson has missed two straight games and three of the previous five.
* Meanwhile, former Cav Mo Williams scored 17 points for the second straight game. Williams is now the starting point guard for the Clippers, and is averaging 16.7 points in more than 33 minutes per game. The Clippers are 2-1 since the deal that sent Williams to the Clippers and Davis to the Cavs.
