Max Benton started with the Cleveland Cavaliers as athletic trainer in July 2001.

As the Cavaliers’ athletic trainer, Benton tends to the immediate medical needs of the team's players. Most of his athletic training time is spent in the area of preventive medicine, treatment and rehabilitation.

Benton completed his seventh season with the Cavaliers. He came to Cleveland following six seasons as the assistant athletic trainer for the Denver Nuggets. While working as the Nuggets’ assistant trainer, he also volunteered as an athletic trainer for the Denver Public School System.

A 1995 graduate of the University of Colorado (CU), Benton was a student assistant in the CU sports medicine department from 1990-95. He worked primarily with football, men’s basketball and men’s and women’s track. Benton was also a student intern for the Denver Broncos’ training staff for two years and received the Pro Football Athletic Trainers’ Ethnic Minority Scholarship in 1993.

While doing his undergraduate work, Benton served as a student intern for the Colorado Rockies orthopedic surgeon. He also taught a course in athletic training at CU as an undergraduate.

The native of Fort Collins, Colo., is a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), the Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association (OATA), the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and is also a Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) and Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES).

Benton volunteered in August 2001 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he worked with athletes from volleyball, wrestling, taekwondo and swimming. In March of 2003, Benton was selected to the USA Medical Staff for the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where he helped the U.S. Boxing Team win one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Benton served a two-year term (2004-06) as the Eastern Conference representative for the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association (NBATA). He also serves on the scholarship committee for the NBATA, which gives scholarships to undergraduate, masters and doctorate students in the field of athletic training.

Benton and his wife Jolynne are the proud parents of Emma Lenice, born July 9, 2004.

Michael Mancias was named assistant athletic trainer in August 2005 after spending the 2004-05 season as the team’s seasonal athletic trainer. He assists Head Athletic Trainer Max Benton and Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Stan Kellers in all aspects of player care including; injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of Cavalier players both at home and on the road.

Prior to joining the Cavaliers, Mancias was assistant athletic trainer at the University of Texas-Pan American where he served as lead athletic trainer as well as strength and conditioning coordinator for the Men’s Basketball team. He has also worked at The NBA Pre-Draft Camp, The Nike Desert Classic, and NBA Summer leagues in Atlanta, Boston, Orlando and Las Vegas. He has also served two summer internships with noted trainer Tim Grover of ATTACK Athletics in Chicago. Mancias is a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers Association and holds Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) and Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Mancias graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in Health Education from The University of Texas-Pan American. He is originally from Brownsville, Texas, is single and resides in Cleveland.