Cleveland Cavaliers v Golden State Warriors

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) shoots for two as Golden State Warriors forward Anderson Varejao (18) tries his patented flop, but instead draws a blocking foul in the NBA Finals Game 7.

(Thomas Ondrey/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The veteran forward was used to coming off the bench and giving his team a spark. For years, he drove a van with a big spare tire on the back that read "Sixth Man."

By the time he was 35, he knew the tank was low on gas. He played 57 games with what he thought was his last employer, checking out of his hotel room and closing out his bank account near the end of the season when injury elsewhere created a critical need for a veteran who played his position.

"By then, I was semi-retired. Bill Sharman (then a Los Angeles Lakers' executive) called and said they needed me for the playoffs. I said I had clothes for today and clothes for tomorrow morning with me," said Steve Mix, the greatest player in University of Toledo history, recalling the spring of 1983.

"Don't worry about it. We'll buy you some new underwear after you get here," Sharman said.

A playoff share is not the same as a ring

Mix spent most of his NBA career with Philadelphia. Milwaukee was his team for most of his last season.

When the Lakers' opportunity arose because of rookie James Worthy's broken ankle, suffered with only a few games left in the season, Mix said the Lakers could forget about paying him for the one regular season game in which he appeared. He would take a double share of playoff money instead.

Mix got into eight playoff games that year, averaging just under one point per game. He saw action against his old 76ers teammates in Philly's sweep in the Finals.

In all, he got a playoff share from the Bucks, who reached the Eastern Conference finals, and his double share from the Lakers.

He was due nothing from the 76ers because he did not play at all for them that year and actually opposed them in the Finals.

Varejao had more impact against his old team

Anderson Varejao played 53 games last season at the age of 33, 31 here for the Cleveland Cavaliers and 22 with the Golden State Warriors.

For years he came off the bench and gave his Cavs team a spark. He has been injury-plagued in recent years. This was only the second time in his last six season Varejao played more than 31 games.

Varejao was a favorite of LeBron James here and mentored younger players. The rangy Brazilian forward got into 17 playoff games, averaging just over one point per game. He actually opposed the Cavs in the NBA Finals and had an impactful performance against them, snatching three offensive rebounds in just four minutes of playing time in Game 4.

That kind of relentless energy was his trademark here, along with his hair flying on a flop at the slightest whisper of a suggestion of a hint of a brush of contact from an opposing offensive player.

The three rebounds accounted for two baskets and came during the huge third-quarter run that blew the fourth Finals game open and gave the Warriors an apparently insurmountable 3-1 series lead.

If you don't play for them in the playoffs. . .

Asked point blank if he felt he might have deserved a championship ring from the Sixers, Mix said, "if you win a championship and you were on the team during the season, you're probably going to get a ring. As I said the Lakers gave me a playoff share. If you don't play for them in the playoffs, I probably would've felt, why do I have a ring? Because I didn't play for them in the playoffs."

. . . they don't owe you squat

It's up to the Cavs' front office to determine whether to give Varejao a ring or not. No NBA policy mandates it for a player who is not on the roster by midseason.

Varejao is the first player in NBA history to play for both teams in the NBA Finals. If he gets a Cavaliers' championship ring, and he has not requested one, it might bring even an emptier feeling than the championship Kevin Durant probably thinks he locked up by joining the 73-9 Warriors as a free agent. That is, if his team-stacking dreams ever come true.

Varejao's team lost to the Cavs.

Moreover, he played for the other team in the Finals.

In them, he helped cost the Cavs a game.

Every player doesn't get a participation ribbon in the NBA.

Nor should anyone get a championship ring from a team whose title he tried his hardest to prevent.