Cleveland Cavaliers

Published April 18, 2026 · Updated April 23, 2026 · By The Basketball Fans Editors

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a 1970 NBA expansion franchise whose 2016 NBA championship is, by a wide margin, the single most culturally significant title in American professional sports of the 2010s. The Cavaliers beat the 73-win Golden State Warriors from a 3–1 series deficit, the only team ever to overcome a 3–1 NBA Finals deficit. LeBron James, returning to his home-state franchise in July 2014 after four seasons in Miami, was Finals MVP. The 2016 title was the first major professional sports championship in Cleveland since the 1964 pre-Super-Bowl-era Browns. The franchise has reached five NBA Finals (2007, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), all in the LeBron era. Current ownership is Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans (now Rocket Companies), who purchased the team in 2005 for $375 million.

The 1970 founding and the Miracle of Richfield

The Cavaliers were founded in 1970 as an NBA expansion franchise, one of three that year (with Buffalo and Portland). Nick Mileti was the founding owner. The first head coach was Bill Fitch. The 1970–71 Cavaliers went 15–67. The franchise played at Cleveland Arena (1970–74) and at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio (twenty-five miles south of downtown Cleveland) from 1974 to 1994.

The 1975–76 Cavaliers went 49–33, the franchise’s first winning season, and won the Central Division. They beat the Washington Bullets in a seven-game second-round series that included three overtime games. The series is known as “The Miracle of Richfield” for the Coliseum’s near-continuous sellout atmosphere. The Cavaliers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to Boston in six. Bingo Smith, Campy Russell, Jim Chones, and Bobby Smith were the core. Fitch was named Coach of the Year.

The late-1980s Price-Daugherty era

The 1986 NBA Draft produced Brad Daugherty (first overall) and Ron Harper (eighth overall). The 1987 draft produced Kevin Johnson (seventh) and Mark Price (traded for from Dallas). The Price-Daugherty-Harper Cavaliers, coached by Lenny Wilkens from 1986 to 1993, made the playoffs seven consecutive years (1988–1994) and reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992 (losing to Chicago 4–2).

The 1988–89 Cavaliers went 57–25. The first-round playoff loss to the Bulls, on Michael Jordan’s buzzer-beater over Craig Ehlo in Game 5 (“The Shot”), is the single most-cited moment of heartbreak in pre-LeBron Cavaliers history. The Price-era Cavaliers lost three playoff series to Jordan’s Bulls (1988, 1989, 1992, 1993). The failure-to-beat-Jordan narrative defined the era.

Larry Nance was acquired from Phoenix in February 1988 and joined the core. Wilkens left after the 1992–93 season. The 1993–94 through 2002–03 Cavaliers produced one playoff appearance and cycled through head coaches.

The 2003 LeBron draft

The 2002–03 Cavaliers finished 17–65, the worst record in the NBA. They won the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery. On June 26, 2003, they selected LeBron James first overall out of St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. James was eighteen. Full LeBron story here.

The 2004–05 Cavaliers were the first LeBron-era winning team (42–40). The 2005–06 Cavaliers reached the playoffs. The 2006–07 Cavaliers went 50–32 and reached the NBA Finals, losing to the San Antonio Spurs 4–0. Tony Parker was Finals MVP at twenty-four. The sweep was the single most-lopsided Finals of the decade in terms of average game margin.

The 2007–08 Cavaliers traded for Ben Wallace and Joe Smith at the February deadline. The 2008–09 Cavaliers went 66–16, the franchise’s best regular-season record. They lost the Eastern Conference Finals to Orlando in six games, a series in which Dwight Howard’s inside dominance was the decisive factor.

July 8, 2010: The Decision

On July 8, 2010, LeBron James announced on the ESPN special The Decision that he would sign with the Miami Heat. Full Decision coverage here. Dan Gilbert posted a Comic Sans-typed open letter to Cavaliers fans within the hour. Cleveland fans burned LeBron jerseys. The 2010–2014 Cavaliers went 97–215 across four seasons, the worst four-year record in franchise history after the early-1970s expansion years.

The 2010–2014 draft lotteries produced Kyrie Irving (2011, first overall), Dion Waiters (2012, fourth), Anthony Bennett (2013, first), and Andrew Wiggins (2014, first). Bennett’s selection is widely considered the most-identified first-overall draft miss of the modern era.

The 2014 return and the 2015 Finals

On July 11, 2014, LeBron announced his return to Cleveland via a Lee Jenkins Sports Illustrated first-person essay titled “I’m Coming Home.” Full return-essay coverage here. The 2014–15 Cavaliers, with LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love (acquired from Minnesota for Wiggins and a first-round pick), went 53–29. They reached the 2015 NBA Finals, losing to Golden State 4–2. Irving tore his left patella in Game 1. Love had missed the playoffs since the first round with a shoulder injury. LeBron averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists across the series against a mostly-healthy Warriors.

The 2016 NBA championship

The 2015–16 Cavaliers went 57–25. Head coach David Blatt was fired in January 2016 despite the team’s 30–11 record and replaced by assistant coach Tyronn Lue. The firing was controversial at the time but is now widely considered a correct strategic decision.

The 2016 playoff run: 4–0 over Detroit, 4–0 over Atlanta, 4–2 over Toronto, 4–3 over Golden State. The Warriors won Games 1, 2, and 4 of the Finals to lead 3–1. The Cavaliers won Games 5 (on the road), 6 (at home), and 7 (on the road). In Game 7 at Oracle Arena on June 19, 2016:

• LeBron’s chase-down block of Andre Iguodala’s fast-break layup with 1:50 remaining (“The Block”)
• Kyrie Irving’s step-back three over Stephen Curry from the right wing with 53 seconds remaining (“The Shot”)
• The Cavaliers won 93–89

LeBron averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.3 steals, and 2.3 blocks across the series. He was Finals MVP. It was the first NBA championship in Cleveland Cavaliers history and the first major professional sports title in Cleveland since 1964. The definitive account of the 2016 run is Return of the King by Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin (Grand Central, 2016).

The 2017 and 2018 Finals

The 2016–17 Cavaliers went 51–31 and reached the Finals, losing to a Kevin-Durant-era Warriors team 4–1. The 2017–18 Cavaliers went 50–32 and reached the Finals, losing to the Warriors 4–0. LeBron averaged 34.0 points in the 2018 Finals. On July 1, 2018, he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent, ending the four-year return.

The 2018–19 through 2021–22 Cavaliers missed the playoffs, with the exception of a 2022 play-in tournament loss.

The Donovan Mitchell era (2022–present)

On September 2, 2022, the Cavaliers traded for Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks, and two pick swaps. The trade was the most-consequential post-LeBron acquisition. Mitchell was an All-NBA selection in both 2022–23 and 2023–24.

The 2023–24 Cavaliers reached the second round of the playoffs, losing to Boston 4–1. The 2024–25 Cavaliers went 64–18, the Eastern Conference’s top seed, and lost in the conference semifinals 4–2 to Indiana. Head coach Kenny Atkinson was hired in June 2024 after replacing J. B. Bickerstaff.

The 2025–26 Cavaliers acquired James Harden from the Clippers in February 2026 for draft picks and bench pieces. Harden’s full story here. The team is a legitimate 2026 Finals contender.

Ownership

Dan Gilbert purchased the Cleveland Cavaliers in March 2005 for $375 million from Gordon Gund. Gilbert is the founder of Quicken Loans, later renamed Rocket Companies, the largest mortgage lender in the United States. He also founded Bedrock Detroit, which has invested approximately $5 billion in downtown Detroit real estate since 2011. Gilbert’s 2025 Forbes net worth was approximately $20 billion. The Cavaliers’ 2025 Forbes valuation was approximately $3.9 billion.

Retired numbers

Seven jersey numbers have been retired:

• Bingo Smith (7)
• Larry Nance (22)
• Mark Price (25)
• Brad Daugherty (43)
• Nate Thurmond (42)
• Austin Carr (34)
• Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11)

LeBron James’s 23 is a presumed future retirement. The Cavaliers have not formally announced a ceremony as of the 2024–25 season.

Get Tickets

Watch the Cleveland Cavaliers live at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Find tickets, schedule, and seating charts at eTickets.com.

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Sources

• Basketball-Reference, Cleveland Cavaliers franchise page
• The Plain Dealer, Cavaliers beat coverage, 1970–present
• Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin, Return of the King: LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History (Grand Central, 2016)
• 2016 NBA Finals box scores (Cavaliers 4, Warriors 3)
• 2003 NBA Draft Lottery records (Cleveland selects LeBron first overall)
• 2014 Love-Wiggins trade records (Cavaliers-Timberwolves)
• 2022 Donovan Mitchell trade records (Jazz-Cavaliers)
• 2005 Dan Gilbert purchase records ($375 million)
• Forbes NBA Team Valuations, 2025