Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1970, and their early years were predictably rough. The first season produced a 15-67 record, and the team struggled to find its footing in a city that was primarily devoted to the Browns and Indians. But by the mid-1970s, the Cavaliers had built a competitive team around Austin Carr, Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, and Jim Cleamons.

The 1975-76 season became known as the "Miracle of Richfield" - the Cavaliers, playing in the suburban Richfield Coliseum, won 49 games and captured the hearts of Northeast Ohio. Their playoff run ended in a controversial loss to the Boston Celtics, but the Miracle established that Cleveland could be a basketball city. The subsequent years brought decline, however, as the franchise struggled through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Cavaliers' early history established a pattern that would become painfully familiar: moments of genuine hope followed by crushing disappointment, all against the backdrop of one of America's most loyal and long-suffering sports cities.

The Cavaliers rebuilt in the mid-1980s around guard Mark Price, center Brad Daugherty, and forward Larry Nance, creating one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Price was a brilliant shooter and playmaker, Daugherty was a skilled center, and the supporting cast - including Craig Ehlo and Hot Rod Williams - made the Cavaliers a consistent 50-win team.

But this era was defined by one devastating moment: "The Shot." On May 7, 1989, Michael Jordan hit a buzzer-beating jumper over Craig Ehlo to eliminate the Cavaliers from the first round of the playoffs. The image of Jordan pumping his fist while Ehlo collapsed to the floor became one of the most iconic plays in NBA history - and one of the most painful in Cleveland sports history.

The Cavaliers continued to be competitive through the mid-1990s but could never break through Jordan's Bulls. By the late 1990s, the core had aged out, and the franchise entered a period of rebuilding that would last until a generational talent from just down the road in Akron would change everything.

In 2003, the Cavaliers won the NBA Draft Lottery and selected LeBron James first overall. James, from nearby Akron, Ohio, had been the most hyped basketball prospect since Wilt Chamberlain, gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a junior in high school with the headline "The Chosen One." He lived up to every word of it, winning Rookie of the Year and transforming the Cavaliers from a 17-win team into a playoff contender almost overnight.

By 2007, LeBron led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals - the franchise's first - where they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. The loss exposed the roster's limitations around LeBron, and despite the team winning 66 games in 2008-09 (the league's best record), the Cavaliers were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The inability to surround LeBron with championship-caliber talent would prove fatal. On July 8, 2010, LeBron announced on a nationally televised ESPN special - "The Decision" - that he would be taking his talents to South Beach to join the Miami Heat. The announcement devastated Cleveland, with fans burning James jerseys in the streets and owner Dan Gilbert publishing a scathing open letter. It was the latest - and perhaps most painful - chapter in Cleveland's long history of sports heartbreak.

On July 11, 2014, LeBron James published an essay in Sports Illustrated announcing his return to Cleveland. "I'm coming home," he wrote, and an entire city wept with joy. Paired with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the Cavaliers were immediately the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

After losing to the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 Finals (with Irving and Love both injured), the Cavaliers and Warriors met again in 2016 in what became the greatest NBA Finals ever played. Golden State, coming off a 73-9 regular season, took a 3-1 series lead. No team had ever come back from 3-1 down in the Finals. But LeBron produced the greatest individual performance in Finals history, culminating in "The Block" - his chase-down rejection of Andre Iguodala in the final minutes of Game 7 - and Kyrie Irving's go-ahead three-pointer to clinch the title 93-89.

LeBron fell to the floor and wept. Cleveland had its first major professional championship in 52 years. The city erupted in a celebration that erased decades of pain - The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Decision - all of it exorcised in a single, unforgettable night. LeBron led the Cavaliers to three more Finals appearances (losing to Golden State each time) before departing for the Lakers in 2018.