The Cleveland Cavaliers are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team began play as an expansion team in 1970, along with the Portland Trail Blazers and Buffalo Braves. Home games were first held at Cleveland Arena from 1970 to 1974, followed by the Richfield Coliseum from 1974 to 1994. Since 1994, the Cavs have played home games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland, which is shared with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. Dan Gilbert has owned the team since March 2005.
LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely recognized as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport and is often compared to Michael Jordan in debates over the greatest basketball player of all time. He has competed in 10 NBA Finals winning four NBA championships. He also won the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023 with the Lakers, and two Olympic gold medals as a member of the U.S. men's national team.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas is a Lithuanian-born American former professional basketball player who played the center position. The 7'3" Ilgauskas played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association from 1997 to 2010 and played for the Miami Heat during the 2010–11 season. He was named to the 1997–98 All-Rookie First Team and is a two-time NBA All-Star. Ilgauskas played in the 2007 NBA Finals as a member of the Cavaliers. He is known for his accurate jump shot, for his rebounding, and for overcoming difficult injury challenges during his career. Nicknamed Big Z, Ilgauskas is the Cavaliers' career leader in blocked shots; his jersey no. 11 has been retired by the team.
Terry Pluto is an American sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and author who primarily writes columns for The Plain Dealer, and formerly for the Akron Beacon Journal about Cleveland, Ohio sports and religion.
Leon Rose is an American basketball executive, attorney and sports agent. He serves as president of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a sports agent, Rose represented a number of prominent NBA players, including Allen Iverson and LeBron James.
Chris Sheridan is a sportswriter who formerly covered the National Basketball Association for ESPN. He previously worked 18 years for the Associated Press. After leaving ESPN, his basketball Web site, Sheridan Hoops, launched on September 5, 2011. On July, 9th, 2014, he was the first major NBA journalist to report that LeBron James would sign with and return to the Cleveland Cavaliers during his free agency. The report was ultimately confirmed by ESPN on July 11, 2014. Sheridan has covered Team USA senior men's national team longer than any American sportswriter, having first reported on them at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The website was closed in April, 2016.
The Cleveland sports curse was a sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and its major league professional sports teams, centered on the failure to win a championship in any major league sport for 52 years, from 1964 to 2016. Three major league teams based in Cleveland contributed to belief in the curse: the Browns of the National Football League (NFL); the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA); and the then-Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB).
The 2003–04 NBA season was the 34th season of the National Basketball Association in Cleveland, Ohio. In the years following their 1998 first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Cavaliers dropped to the bottom of the league and became a perennial entrant in the annual NBA draft lottery. The franchise's freefall bottomed out during the 2002–03 season, as the Cavs fell to a 17–65 record, tied with the Denver Nuggets for the league's worst.
The 2008–09 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 39th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They finished the regular season with 66 wins and 16 losses, the best record in the NBA, which easily surpassed the previous franchise best of 57–25 from the 1988–89 and 1991–92 seasons. LeBron James won his first MVP Award and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. The Cavaliers had the fourth best team offensive rating and the third best team defensive rating in the NBA.
The 2010–11 Miami Heat season was the 23rd season of the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the regular season, the Heat finished first in the Southeast Division with 58–24 record, and made the NBA playoffs for the 3rd consecutive year as the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed.
The Decision was a 2010 television special on ESPN in which National Basketball Association (NBA) player LeBron James announced which team he would join for the 2010–11 season. James was an unrestricted free agent after playing his first seven NBA seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers; he was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a six-time All-Star. He grew up in nearby Akron, Ohio, where he received national attention as a high school basketball star. During the special, James revealed that he would be signing with the Miami Heat.
The Cleveland sports community is anchored by three major league professional sports teams: the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, and Cleveland Cavaliers. The city is also home to two minor league affiliates that serve as developmental teams for major league franchises: the Cleveland Monsters and Cleveland Charge. Another minor league team, the Cleveland Crunch, play in Major League Indoor Soccer. Local sporting facilities include Progressive Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Wolstein Center, and the I-X Center.
The Big Three, sometimes known as The Heatles, were a trio of professional basketball players – LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh – who played for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from the 2010–11 season to the 2013–14 season. James, Bosh, and Wade had been selected as the 1st, 4th, and 5th picks in the 2003 NBA draft, and became scoring leaders for their respective franchises over their first seven seasons. During their 4 seasons together the Heat won 2 NBA finals, won 4 NBA Eastern Conference championships, and won the Southeast division 4 times.
The 2014–15 Miami Heat season was the 27th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). For the first time since 2010, LeBron James was not on the roster as he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat entered the 2014–15 season as the four-time defending Eastern Conference champion without LeBron, and were coming off of an NBA Finals loss in five games to the San Antonio Spurs. Although they remained in playoff contention until early April, the Heat were eliminated from playoff contention after their game 80 loss to the Toronto Raptors. The Heat failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008 after a four-year trip to the Finals, winning two in 2012 and 2013, and the first team since the 2004–05 Los Angeles Lakers and last until the 2018–19 Cleveland Cavaliers to fail to make the playoffs after making it to the NBA Finals from the previous season as well the first since the 2004–05 Lakers and last until the 2018–19 Cavaliers to miss the playoffs after losing the previous year's Finals.
Mark Termini is a Cleveland, Ohio-based sports attorney and agent. His agency Mark Termini Associates Inc represents professional basketball players. He negotiated $1.4 billion in NBA contracts for the clients of the Klutch Sports Group from 2014 to 2019.
The Cleveland Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team under the ownership of Nick Mileti. Jerry Tomko, the father of future Major League Baseball pitcher Brett Tomko, submitted the winning entry to name the team the "Cavaliers" through a competition sponsored by The Plain Dealer; supporters preferred it to "Jays", "Foresters" and "Presidents". Playing their home games at Cleveland Arena under the direction of head coach Bill Fitch, they compiled a league-worst 15–67 record in their inaugural season. The team hoped to build around the number one 1971 draft pick Austin Carr, who had set numerous scoring records at Notre Dame, but Carr severely injured his leg shortly into his pro career and never was able to realize his potential.
The 2015–16 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 46th season of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA championship, the first NBA championship in franchise history. During the regular season, the Cavaliers had the third best team offensive rating and were tenth in team defensive rating in the NBA. During the playoffs, the Cavaliers had the best team offensive rating and were eighth in team defensive rating in the NBA.
The 2018 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2017–18 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff, the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors swept the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers four games to zero. The Warriors became the 7th NBA franchise to win back-to-back championships, joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Miami Heat. This year's Finals was the first time in any of North America's four major professional sports leagues that the same two teams met for the championship four years in a row. This was also the first time that a team was swept in the NBA Finals since 2007, in which the Cavaliers were also the losing team. LeBron James, in his eighth consecutive NBA Finals appearance and tenth appearance overall, suffered the second Finals sweep of his career, having also played in the 2007 Finals. Warriors small forward Kevin Durant was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.
The 2017–18 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 48th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Cavaliers entered the season as runners-up in the 2017 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in five games. This was the Cavaliers' first season without Kyrie Irving since the 2010–2011 season, as he was traded to the Boston Celtics during the offseason per his request. This trade ended the superteam era of the Cavaliers.
The Celtics–Heat rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.
