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.
William Charles Fitch was an American professional basketball coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He developed multiple teams into playoff contenders and won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1981. Before entering the professional ranks, he coached college basketball at the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State University, the University of North Dakota, and his alma mater, Coe College. Fitch's teams twice qualified for the NCAA tournament. He won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. Christopher Gerhman Protrayed him in Winning Time.
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.
Richard Allen Jefferson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. A small forward, Jefferson played for eight teams in his 17-season career in the National Basketball Association.
Shawn Travis Kemp Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Reign Man", he was a six-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA Second Team member.
Paul Theron Silas was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-time NBA All-Star and earned five selections to the NBA All-Defensive Team, including twice on the first team. He won three NBA championships: two with the Boston Celtics and one with the Seattle SuperSonics. Silas is the leader in most rebounds per game with 12.1 in Suns franchise history.
The 1981 NBA draft was the 35th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 9, 1981, before the 1981–82 season. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each conference, with the order determined by a coin flip. The Dallas Mavericks won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Detroit Pistons were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was automatically eligible for selection. Before the draft, five college underclassmen announced that they would leave college early and would be eligible for selection. The draft consisted of 10 rounds comprising the selection of 223 players.
Austin George Carr is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, and Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is known by Cleveland basketball fans as "Mr. Cavalier". He was part of the Notre Dame team which defeated the UCLA Bruins on January 19, 1971, which was UCLA's last defeat until being beaten by Notre Dame exactly three years later, breaking the Bruins' NCAA men's basketball record 88-game winning streak.
Tyronn Jamar Lue is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lue formerly served as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, helping them win their first NBA title in franchise history.
Fred Brown, nicknamed "Downtown Freddie Brown", is an American former professional basketball player. A 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) guard from the University of Iowa, he played 13 seasons (1971–1984) in the NBA, all with the Seattle SuperSonics. Known for his accurate outside shooting, Brown was selected to the 1976 NBA All-Star Game and scored 14,018 points in his career.
Walter Frederick Walker is an American former professional basketball player. He is best known for his National Basketball Association (NBA) career – both as a player and as a front office executive for the Seattle SuperSonics.
Alexander "Sasha" Olegovich Kaun is a Russian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball in the United States for the University of Kansas for four seasons, where he won an NCAA championship in 2008 before being selected with the 56th overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA draft. He played seven seasons in Russia for CSKA Moscow. In 2015, he returned to the United States and played his only NBA season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he won an NBA championship in 2015–16. Kaun became one of the first Russians, along with Timofey Mozgov, in NBA history to win an NBA championship. He also represented Russia in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for twelve years from 1975 until 1987, beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks. Bridgeman is the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines. Despite never making more than $350,000 a season during his NBA career, Bridgeman has a net worth of over $600 million, making him one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world.
The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Virginia. The school competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Virginia has won the NCAA Championship, two National Invitation Tournaments, and three ACC tournament titles. The team is coached by Tony Bennett and plays home games at the on-campus John Paul Jones Arena (14,623) which opened in 2006. They have been called the Cavaliers since 1923, predating the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA by half a century.
Walter Ivory Wesley was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks.
Terry L. Furlow was an American basketball player.
Tristan Trevor James Thompson is a Canadian-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016 and has also played for the Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and Los Angeles Lakers.
Jarell Martin is an American professional basketball player for Galatasaray Ekmas of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). Martin, a power forward from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, played college basketball at LSU.
Larry Donnell Nance Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wyoming Cowboys, where he was considered one of the best big men in the Mountain West Conference after leading the 2014–15 team to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Nance was drafted 27th overall in the 2015 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He became part of the team's roster rebuild focusing around younger players. During the 2017–18 season, Nance was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with whom he reached the 2018 NBA Finals. During the 2021 offseason, he was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers, who flipped him to the Pelicans midway through the 2021–22 season.
Terry William Rozier III, nicknamed "Scary Terry", is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals before being selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. Rozier spent his first 4 seasons as a reserve with the Celtics until being traded to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade deal. He was a starter for the Hornets for four-and-a-half seasons until being traded to the Heat.
