Charge Announce 2026-27 Coaching Staff

CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Charge finalized their basketball staff ahead of the 2026-27 NBA G League season. Led by Vice President of G League Basketball Operations Liron Fanan and Head Coach Eli Kell-Abrams, a combination of familiar and new faces will comprise the group that lead the Charge when training camp begins on October 26.

New to the Charge bench for 2026-27: Associate Head Coach Norm Richardson, Assistant Coach David Pavlakovich, Assistant Coach Corey Wheeler, Director of Player Development Sydney Armand, Coaching Analyst Cal Davis, NBA Coaching Apprentice/Video Coordinator Meighan Simmons, and Basketball Operations/Coaching Assistant Keith Pickens.  Returning for this season are Head Athletic Trainer Takuya Kikuchi, Strength & Conditioning Coach Raphael Whittingham, and Cleveland Clinic Athletic Trainer Myles Thornton. 

Richardson comes to the Charge after most recently serving as the head coach for Overtime Elite.  He spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets from 2021-2024 after NBA G League coaching stints previously in Greensboro, Fort Wayne, and Erie.  Richarson enjoyed a nine-year professional playing career with NBA stops in Indiana and Chicago, as well as overseas in Serbia, Venezuela, France, Argentina, Poland, and Germany.

Pavalkovich joins the Charge after a stint the last two seasons as head coach for Team FOG in Denmark’s Basketligaen.  Prior to Denmark, he also has had international coaching stops in New Zealand, Germany, and Slovakia.  Along with experience as a video coordinator for the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League, Pavalakovich spent time coaching collegiately at Boise State, St. Louis University, Weber State, and Colorado.

Wheeler will join the Charge bench after most recently serving as head video coordinator for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season.  Prior to Cleveland, he spent two seasons in the NBA G League with the Texas Legends as a video coordinator.  Was a video coordinator and graduate assistant at Oakland University following a four year playing career at Albion College.

Armand comes to Cleveland after serving as an Assistant Coach at Holy Cross the past two seasons.  Prior to that, spent two years as operations coordinator for men’s basketball at Brown University after three seasons as the men’s basketball video coordinator at the University of Rhode Island. Was head team manager and a basketball ops assistant at Rhode Island as an undergrad.

Davis joins the Charge after spending the last two years as an assistant coach at the University of Charleston.  Davis previously was a graduate assistant at George Washington University on the men’s basketball team as well as a student manager at West Virginia as an undergrad.

Simmons joins the Charge from the NBA Coaching Development Program, where the league places an aspiring coach/front office member with an NBA G League team in an opportunity to further their career growth.  Played in WNBA for Atlanta Dream and had an 8+ year pro career also playing internationally in Turkey, Israel, Italy, Russia, Poland, and Romania.

Pickens most recently was an assistant coach at UT Austin.  Prior to that, spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri, helping lead the Redhawks to the NCAA Tournament in 2023 after SEMO won its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title in 23 years.

In the Charge front office, Assistant General Managers Luis Gonzalez Infante and Max Weisberg both return this season as well as Director of Scouting & Player Personnel Brandon Halupnik.  Over this past offseason, the Charge had four different NBA Call Ups: Max Brandt (Cavaliers), Mickell Gladness (Cavaliers), Sam Hershberger (Mavericks), Daniel Sokolovsky (Cavaliers).

Click HERE for the full Charge 2026-27 promotional schedule (all game times subject to change).

For more information about the Cleveland Charge, including game schedules, tickets, and community programs, visit ClevelandCharge.com or follow the Charge on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Threads. Fans can sign up for text alerts by texting CHARGE to 30594 for the latest updates and special offers.

###

ABOUT CLEVELAND CHARGE:

The Cleveland Charge are the NBA G League affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Founded in 2011 as the Canton Charge, the team is part of Rock Entertainment Group, the umbrella entity of sports and entertainment properties under the Dan Gilbert ROCK Family of Companies. Beginning in the 2024-25 season, the Cleveland Charge began playing home games at the historic Public Hall in downtown Cleveland. Charge games are also broadcasted on Rock Entertainment Sports Network (channel 979 on Spectrum and over-the-air on channel 22.1), a joint venture between Rock Entertainment Group and Gray Media.