A Basic History of the Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball Team

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association. The Cavaliers, also known as the Cavs, play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the NBA. The team currently plays its home games at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

The team is currently owned by Dan Gilbert, David Katzman, and Usher Raymond. The Cavs are coached by Mike Brown. The official team colors are navy blue, white, gold, and wine (red).

The Cavaliers were founded in 1970 and have been in Cleveland since. From 1970-1974, the team played its home games in the Cleveland Arena. From 1974-1994, they played in the Coliseum at Richfield. Since 1994, they have played in the same building, which was formerly Gund Arena and is now Quicken Loans Arena.

The team has only won one division title in its history. The lone division title came in 1976 for the Cavaliers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have three former members of the franchise in the National Basketball Hall of Fame. They are Wayne Embry, Nate Thurmond, and Lenny Wilkens. Nate Thurmond went in as a player. Lenny Wilkens was inducted into the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. Wayne Embry was inducted as a contributor to the game of basketball. He was a former team president of the Cleveland Cavaliers and was the first African American to serve as a team president in the NBA.

The Cavaliers have a total of six retired numbers. The players whose jersey numbers have been retired are Bing Smith - 7, Larry Nance - 22, Mark Price - 25, Austin Carr - 34, Nate Thurmond - 42, and Brad Daugherty - 43.

A few other former fan favorites of the Cleveland Cavaliers include John "Hot Rod" Williams, Shawn Kemp, and Steve Kerr.

Danny Ferry has played the most NBA games as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, playing in 723 games in his career with the team. Brad Daugherty is the team's all-time leader in points with 10,389, and rebounds with 5,227. Mark Price is the all-time leader for the Cleveland Cavaliers in assists with 4,201 and steals with 734. John "Hot Rod" Williams leads with 1,200 blocked shots.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently at one of the best times in the franchise's history, led by the face of the NBA, LeBron James. LeBron James is easily on pace to shatter most of Cleveland's all-time records if he is able to stick around with the team long enough.