Cleveland Cavaliers

Nick Mileti organized the Cavaliers, who joined the NBA in 1970.⁠[1]

Bill Fitch was the first head coach and developed the expansion team into a playoff contender.⁠[2]

Jerry Tomko won the team-naming contest.⁠[3]

The team moved to the Richfield Coliseum.⁠[1]

Cleveland beat Washington 4–3 in the playoffs, then lost 4–2 to Boston in the Eastern Conference finals.⁠[4]

Ted Stepien took over in 1980 and sold the team to George and Gordon Gund three years later.⁠[1]

Wayne Embry became general manager and Lenny Wilkens head coach in 1986. Cleveland returned to the Eastern Conference finals in 1992.⁠[1]

The Cavaliers moved into the newly opened Gund Arena, now Rocket Arena.⁠[5]

Selected LeBron James first overall.⁠[6]

Dan Gilbert acquired the Cavaliers, and the arena was renamed Quicken Loans Arena.⁠[5]

Cleveland beat Detroit 4–2 for the Eastern title, then lost the Finals 4–0 to San Antonio.⁠[4]

LeBron James left Cleveland for the Miami HeatMiami HeatThe Miami Heat are an NBA basketball team based in Miami, Florida, with Kaseya Center as their home arena.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

Re-signed free agent LeBron James.⁠[7]

Cleveland faced Golden State in four successive Finals, winning in 2016 and losing the other three series.⁠[4]

Cleveland won three straight games after falling behind 3–1 in the Finals, defeating Golden State 4–3. No team had previously recovered from that deficit to win the Finals. The seven-game series also drew the highest average Finals audience since 1998.⁠[8]

Atkinson won NBA Coach of the Year.⁠[9]

Acquired James Harden in a trade.⁠[10]

The Knicks swept Cleveland in the Eastern finals.⁠[11]

Rocket Arena is in downtown Cleveland. The venue became Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in 2019 and adopted the name Rocket Arena in February 2025.⁠[5]

Cleveland Cavaliers: Official website: https://www.nba.com/cavaliers/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

Cleveland Cavaliers: X: https://x.com/cavs (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

Cleveland Cavaliers: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Cavs/ (opens in a new window).⁠[14]

Cleveland Cavaliers: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cavs/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

Cleveland Cavaliers: YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/Cavs (opens in a new window).⁠[16]