Tyronn Lue has three years remaining on the five-year, $35 million contract extension he signed in the summer of 2016, the same year which he won the Cleveland Cavaliers their first NBA title in franchise history.

However, since then, the Cavaliers have made another two NBA Finals appearances and have lost on both occasions to the Golden State Warriors. On top of this, Lue has had his own personal medical problems.

He had a nine-game medical leave of absence in late March through early April after suffering from chest pains and occasionally coughing up blood. He missed parts of two other games before that with the same symptoms.

Intends to stay

Despite all this though, Lue confirmed to reporters after the Cavs' Game 4 loss to the Warriors that he intends to return as head coach of the team next season, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

The Cavs head coach also heaped praise on his coaches, associate head coach Larry Drew, Mike Longabardi, Phil Handy, James Posey, Damon Jones, Vitaly Potapenko, and Jim Boylan after Game 4 for their contributions while he worked on recovering from his health issues.

He said: "They did a hell of a job just holding it down until I got back. Even though I came back when I wasn't quite ready, I had to. That's who I am. I'm never going to give up and never going to give in. I stayed the course and was able to have a pretty special year, outside of losing in the Finals.

"But I thought we did a good job of staying the course and getting to this point. I'm happy for the guys."

Ultimately, Lue knows he's only been a head coach for a short amount of time, and that there is plenty of room for improvement.

"I can always get better. But I know I'm a tough guy. I pride myself on that. But just, I'm hard on myself a lot of times, but I've got to realize I've only been coaching for two and a half years, but it feels like 10 or 15.

"I can get better, and I'm going to get better. I just learned that you've got to stay the course in this profession. Anything can happen.

"We had plenty of chances to mail it in, to make excuses, and we didn't do that. I think it started with me, it started with LeBron [James], with just saying, 'No excuses,' and we are today."

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