Cleveland Charge Announce 2025-26 Coaching Staff

CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League have finalized their basketball staff in advance of the 2025-26 NBA G League season. Led by returning General Manager Liron Fanan and first-year 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 28.

Returning to the Charge bench for 2025-26: Assistant Coach Doron Perkins, Assistant Coach/Director of Video Willie Williams, Head Athletic Trainer Takuya Kikuchi, and Strength & Conditioning Coach Raphael Whittingham. New for this season are Assistant Coaches Sam Hershberger and Daniel Sokolovsky, as well as NBA Coaching Development Program Assistant Mickell Gladness and Cleveland Clinic Athletic Trainer Myles Thornton.

Hershberger comes to Cleveland after spending the last five seasons at Brown University, serving as an assistant coach the last two seasons after beginning as a team operations coordinator. Prior to Brown, the Elon alum worked as a graduate assistant for two seasons with the Florida Gators.

Sokolovsky arrives after coaching in New Zealand for the national team as an assistant as well as serving as associate head coach of the NBL’s Breakers. He has also been a head coach for the NBL’s Franklin Bulls and BKM Lucenec in Slovakia. Sokolovsky has also coached professionally in Israel, China, Russia, and Germany.

Gladness joins the Charge from the NBA Coaching Development Program, where the league places an aspiring coach/front office member with a NBA G League team in an opportunity to continue their growth. Played in 26 career NBA games during the 2011-12 season with Miami and Golden State. Also played professional basketball all over the world including in the NBA G League, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, China, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, and Portugal.

Thornton spent the last five seasons as the athletic trainer working with men’s basketball at Southern Methodist University. The Incarnate Word alumni joined the Mustangs after serving as a strength and conditioning intern with the Dallas Mavericks.

In the Charge front office, Assistant General Managers Luis Gonzalez Infante and Max Weisberg both return this season plus Brandon Halupnik and Max Brandt were both promoted to Director of Basketball Operations & Player Personnel and Coaching Analytics, respectively. The Charge’s lone staff NBA Call-Up from last season was Chris Darnell joining the Sacramento Kings as an Assistant Coach.

Click HERE for the full Charge 2025-26 promotional schedule (all game times subject to change).

Charge Nation Memberships are on sale now and include discounted ticket prices, the best seat locations, exclusive team gear, invites to private events with the team and many more benefits! Memberships start at only $11 per game! Premium options including all-inclusive food, beer, wine, seltzer and soda are also available. Click HERE for more information!

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.

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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. The organization is led by the President of Franchise Properties Mike Ostrowski, President Rocco Maragas and General Manager Liron Fanan.