May 21, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus (2) reacts after a basket during the second quarter of the eastern conference finals of the 2026 NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
May 21, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus (2) reacts after a basket during the second quarter of the eastern conference finals of the 2026 NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Max Strus, the NBA sharpshooter who joined the Clippers as part of a five-team trade earlier this summer, recently sat down with Jared Brownridge for an interview where he dove into his own career.
When asked about how he gets into his ‘bag’, which is essentially having the ball-handling skills to get back defenders, Strus revealed that in order to find his place in the NBA for the long term, he had to sacrifice his individual skill set and focus on specializing in a few things.
“I don’t have a bag. Oh, I don’t have a bag. Honestly, you just like find a way. I can’t explain it to you, man. I’m sorry. I don’t have a bag,” Max Strus admitted.
“Like, there was one clip that they showed that I, like, crossed somebody up last year in the playoffs, and, like, you could see the bench’s reaction. They’re like, ‘What? Where did that come from?’ ‘Cause, like, you don’t dribble the basketball much. Even I was surprised that worked?”
“I used to have a bag back in college, but I don’t anymore because you find what your niche is and you just go at it. I knew shooting the basketball was going to get me on the floor, and then I knew playing defense was going to keep me on the floor.”
“I’m not afraid to guard. I’ll guard the best player. I don’t care. They’re going to score on me because everybody’s that good. You can’t really stop anybody anyway,” Strus said.
“So it’s like, how can I make it as tough as possible on them? I don’t need to shoot the ball. I’m all right. I can do other things that I know are helping the team win. How can I make Donovan Mitchell better? How can I make James Harden better? How can I make Jarrett Allen better?”
“If I feel like I haven’t gotten a shot, it’s like, all right, go crash the offensive rebound and get it. I’m not going to sit here and cry to myself about not shooting the ball or not being involved. Make yourself useful.”
“My first couple years [in Miami], I don’t think I dribbled the ball once. Come off a handoff and shoot, come off a screen and shoot, and then defend and rebound. That’s all I did,” Strus further revealed.
“As you continue to build more confidence within the team, within the coach, they put you in positions where, all right, now I can do a little bit more.”
“You’ve got to have the humbleness to humble yourself to, ‘I’m not that guy anymore. I can’t be that guy anymore.’ But then be ready for the opportunity when it does come, ‘No, I could still be that guy. That’s just not what we need right now. But when we do, I got you,'” Strus concluded.
After going undrafted in 2019, Max Strus realized that being a player who averaged 20 points per game at a school like DePaul was not enough to earn him the spotlight to be a star player deserving of the weight of an entire NBA franchise’s burden of expectations. So he had to sacrifice his own individual skill set to become a better team player.
Subsequently, after a stint in the G League with the Windy City Bulls, Strus found his place in the NBA by signing with the Miami Heat, where he flourished and made his name as a reliable 3-And-D sharpshooter.
In the seven seasons since going undrafted, he has averaged 10.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting 42.7% from the field and 37.0% from three.
He averaged 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists while shooting 44.3% from the field and 40.1% from the three-point range for the Cavaliers in 2025-26.
The league’s brutal competitive nature has forced many such players to accept a role instead of shining as the best version of themselves as the star player. Strus is currently on a $16.6 million expiring contract and could become a free agent next season.
While his future is uncertain right now, that mindset reflects that Strus has learned how to navigate his time in the league to build a long, prosperous NBA career. All eyes are now on Strus to prove his value even in what could be just a one-year stint on a completely new team.
Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA Analyst and Columnist at Fadeaway World from New Delhi, India. He fell in love with basketball in 2018 after seeing James Harden in his prime. He joined the sports journalism world in 2021, one year before finishing his law school in 2022. He attended Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India, where his favorite subject was also Sports Law. He transitioned from law to journalism after realizing his true passion for sports and basketball in particular. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he openly admits he is biased towards the Houston Rockets and Arsenal. But that intersection of in-depth analysis and passion helps him simplify the fine print and complex language for his readers.His goal in life is to open his own sports management agency one day and represent athletes. He wants to ensure he can help bridge the gap in equal opportunity for athletes across various sports and different genders playing the same sport.