From their missing on drafting Tiny Archibald in 1970 to their trade of Kyrie Irving in 2017, the Cleveland Cavaliers have made some franchise-altering mistakes in their 54 years in the league.
In their 54 years of existence, the Cleveland Cavaliers have seen their fair share of disappointment and anguish. Despite the greatness of their franchise’s GOATs, they earned just one NBA championship in their franchise’s history while missing the playoffs far more times than they have made it. Many things have contributed to their lack of success but the biggest issues can be linked to the decisions made, or lack thereof, from the front office on the draft and trade fronts.
Just as we have covered with franchises such as the Timberwolves and the Pacers in the past, it is time to break down the woes of the Cleveland Cavaliers and how much they have missed out on by making terrible decisions in the NBA Draft and trading away future NBA champions for peanuts. Every franchise has suffered at the hands of their front office in the past. There aren’t many who have suffered like the Cleveland Cavaliers.
These are the worst draft and trade mistakes in Cleveland Cavaliers history.
1970 NBA Draft
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Selected: John Johnson, 7th Overall Pick
Better Available Pick: Tiny Archibald (19th Overall Pick)
For the first mistake that the Cleveland Cavaliers made in the NBA Draft, we have to go back to 1970. Cleveland held the seventh overall pick and with it, selected small forward John Johnson out of Iowa. Johnson’s career with the Cavaliers started off fantastic with All-Star selections in each of his first two seasons averaging 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. However, following his third season with the team, Johnson would be traded to Portland in exchange for two draft picks.
Johnson would go on to play nine more seasons in the NBA including with the SuperSonics to win an NBA title in 1979. Meanwhile, well down the draft board, a generational point guard was waiting to hear his name called. A point guard who could have changed the course of Cavaliers history.
That point guard was Tiny Archibald who was eventually taken 19th overall by the Royals. Archibald was a game-changer immediately, leading the NBA in both scoring and assists in just his third season with 34.0 points and 11.4 assists per game. Archibald would play 14 seasons in the NBA in total with the Royals, Nets, Celtics, and Bucks. In total, he would earn six All-Star selections and five All-NBA Team selections and go on to help the Celtics capture the 1981 NBA championship.
1996 NBA Draft
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Selected: Vitaly Potapenko, 12th Overall Pick
Better Available Pick: Kobe Bryant (13th Overall Pick)
Imagine you are the NBA team with the 12th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. With that pick, you select a 6’10’’ center from Ukraine who went on to average 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in his career. Then, the 13th pick was taken by the Hornets and traded to the Lakers where he went on to become one of the greatest players ever. That is exactly the feeling the Cavaliers had when taking Vitaly Potapenko over Kobe Bryant in 1996.
Potapenko was decent in his first two and a half seasons with the Cavaliers, averaging 6.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He would even go on to enjoy an 11-year NBA career that saw him play for Cleveland, Boston, Seattle, and Sacramento. Potapenko would never be an All-Star or All-NBA type player and when compared to the player drafted right after him, it looks even worse for the Cavaliers.
That’s because the player drafted right after Potapenko was none other than Kobe Bryant. As we all know, Bryant would go on to play 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers while becoming an icon and one of the most influential players ever. Bryant would lead the Lakers to five NBA championships, an MVP, two Finals MVPs, and a host of other individual accolades. You can refute this by saying that “Kobe never would have been Kobe anywhere else but L.A.” but you don’t really believe that, do you?
2012 NBA Draft
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Selected: Dion Waiters, 4th Overall Pick
Better Available Pick: Damian Lillard (6th Overall Pick)
It would take another 16 seasons for the Cavaliers to make their next draft mistake but that was because they were already messing up in the trade department which we will get to later. In 2012, with the fourth overall selection, the Cavaliers decided on Dion Waiter out of Syracuse who was on many teams’ radar.
Waiters would play two and a half seasons with the Cavaliers, averaging 15.3 points on 42.4% shooting. After two and a half seasons, Waiters would be shipped to Oklahoma City. He would go on to play a total of eight seasons in the NBA, adding stops in Miami and with the Lakers before walking away after the 2020 season.
Two picks after Waiters, Damian Lillard was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers and the rest is history. Lillard would win the 2013 Rookie of the Year award and develop into one of the best point guards in the game armed with a deadly three-point shot. In 11 seasons in Portland, Lillard earned seven All-Star selections and seven All-NBA team selections while becoming one of the greatest three-point shooting point guards ever as well as a member of the NBA’s 75 greatest players in 2022. Yeah, that is a huge miss by the Cavaliers once again.
2013 NBA Draft
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Selected: Anthony Bennett, 1st Overall Pick
Better Available Pick: Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th Overall Pick)
To be fair, 14 NBA teams missed out on this next draft mistake as well, and every single one of them will be called out for it. The Cavaliers’ pick instead hits a little different though considering they selected one of the biggest busts in NBA history with that pick. Anthony Bennett was so awful in fact, that the Cavaliers had enough after just 52 games of him averaging 4.2 points per game before shipping him to Minnesota.
Bennett would go on to play for four teams in four seasons before heading overseas where he still plays today. In the middle of the NBA draft sat a generational talent that 14 other teams still kick themselves they didn’t see to this day. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the most dominant forces in the NBA today for the Milwaukee Bucks, and one of the most loyal players as well.
Over the last decade, Giannis Antetokounmpo has developed into one of the top two players in the world, leading the Bucks to an NBA title in 2021 along with a Finals MVP, two MVPs, and a Defensive Player of the Year award under his belt. Antetokounmpo is the type of player that an NBA franchise can build around for the foreseeable future. Bennett turned out to be the biggest mistake in franchise history.
2018 NBA Draft
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Selected: Collin Sexton, 8th Overall Pick
Better Available Pick: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th Overall Pick)
The final worst draft mistake in the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers came in the 2018 NBA Draft. With the eighth overall selection, the Cavaliers needed a guard and decided to go with Collin Sexton out of Alabama. Sexton was not a bad pick at the time and even showed tons of promise in his early seasons with the team.
Sexton would even end up playing four seasons in Cleveland, averaging 20.0 points per game on 45.8% shooting. Although he wasn’t an All-Star, his potential was sky-high until a knee injury changed the course of his career in 2022. That offseason, Sexton would be traded to Utah in exchange for Donovan Mitchell where he remains for the 2023-24 season.
Just three picks after Sexton was taken, one of the top three guards in the NBA today was selected. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has evolved into an elite scorer and playmaker over the last three seasons with the Thunder after being traded in the deal that sent Paul George to the Clippers. Over the last three seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander has run laps around Sexton in terms of development, averaging 27.3 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game on 49.0% shooting. In 2022-23, he was named an All-Star and to the All-NBA First Team for the first of many times to come in his future. Heck, he could even be the one who leads the Thunder to their first championship since moving to Oklahoma City.
The Worst Trades In Cleveland Cavaliers History1982 Trade Between The Cleveland Cavaliers And The Detroit Pistons
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Phil Hubbard, Paul Mokeski, 1982 First Round Draft Pick, 1982 Second Round Draft Pick
Detroit Pistons Receive: Bill Laimbeer, Kenny Carr
The Cleveland Cavaliers would make their first big trade blunder during the 1982 season involving one of the more influential centers of 1980s basketball. Bill Laimbeer was far from the center he would be remembered as down the line when he was drafted by the Pistons in 1980, averaging 9,4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in his season and a half with the team. In 1982, the Cavaliers decided to move on from Laimbeer, sending him to Detroit along with Kenny Carr.
In return, they received Phil Hubbard, Paul Mokeski, and a pair of draft picks in the 1982 draft. Hubbard would play out the rest of his days with the Cavaliers through 1989, averaging 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Mokeski would last just 89 games with the team at center averaging 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Neither would amount to even half of the career Laimbeer had with Detroit.
Laimbeer helped give the Pistons an identity as the Bad Boys of the NBA which led to back-to-back NBA championships for the team in 1989 and 1990. Additionally, Laimbeer would earn four All-Star selections and a rebounding title with Detroit over the course of his remaining 13 seasons. Laimbeer finished his career as one of the greatest players in Pistons history, averaging 13.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in 937 games played.
1987 Trade Between The Cleveland Cavaliers And The Phoenix Suns
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Larry Nance, Mike Sanders, 1988 First Round Draft Pick
Phoenix Suns Receive: Kevin Johnson, Mark West, Tyrone Corbin, 1988 First Round Draft Pick, 1988 Second Round Draft Pick, 1989 Second Round Draft Pick
At first glance, the Cavaliers receiving Larry Nance in this 1987 trade with the Suns doesn’t seem like too much of a mistake for Cleveland. Nance was a two-time All-Star who averaged over 16.8 points per game in seven seasons with the team from 1988 through 1994. However, when you consider that Nance was the only player or pick of note that the team received and what they gave up to get him, it was undoubtedly a big blunder.
The main part of this deal was point guard Kevin Johnson being sent to Phoenix. In his first full season with the team, Johnson would win Most Improved Player for 1989, averaging 20.4 points and 12.2 assists per game. In 1989 and 1990, Johnson would help lead the Suns to back-to-back appearances in the Western Conference Finals as well as an NBA Finals in 1993. He would earn a total of three All-Star selections in Phoenix and averaged 18.7 points, 9.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game over the course of 12 seasons.
While many will call this trade a wash, the Suns also ended up getting Dan Majerle in the 1988 NBA Draft who was a big part of their 1993 Finals run. Johnson and Majerle are both considered to be two of the greatest players in the history of the Phoenix Suns.
1989 Trade Between The Cleveland Cavaliers And The Los Angeles Clippers
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Danny Ferry, Reggie Williams
Los Angeles Clipper Receive: Ron Harper, 1990 First Round Draft Pick, 1991 Second Round Draft Pick, 1992 First Round Draft Pick
In 1986, the Cleveland Cavaliers hit the jackpot during the NBA Draft when they selected point guard Ron Harper with the eighth overall pick. Harper would go on to have an extraordinary rookie season in which he probably should have won Rookie of the Year with 22.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. After helping the team reach new heights in the NBA playoffs, Harper would be dealt to the Clippers in one of the worst trades in franchise history.
Coming back to Cleveland in the deal were Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams. Ferry would be a mainstay in Cleveland for 10 seasons, averaging just 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. As for Williams, he would play just 32 games in Cleveland with only 6.8 points per game on 38.1% shooting.
Meanwhile, Harper thrived in Los Angeles for five seasons with 19.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. He would then spend five years in Chicago and two seasons with the Lakers where he became a defensive savant, helping lead the two franchises to five NBA championships combined.
2017 Trade Between The Cleveland Cavaliers And The Boston Celtics
Credit: Fadeaway World
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, Ante Zizic, 2018 First Round Pick, 2020 Second Round Pick
Boston Celtics Receive: Kyrie Irving
From 2015 through 2017, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James looked to be one of the two best duos in the entire NBA. They had led the Cavaliers to three straight NBA Finals appearances including in 2016 when the two led the Cavaliers to their first NBA title in franchise history in the greatest upset in NBA playoff history.
Irving had spent the first six seasons of his career in Cleveland, where he won Rookie of the Year, four All-Star selections, and one All-NBA Third Team selection. After the 2017 season, however, something changed in Irving and he requested a trade out of town citing the desire to get out from behind LeBron James’ shadow.
The Cavaliers had no choice but to trade him so we do not fault them for that but the return was less than desirable considering the outcome. The main part of the deal for Cleveland was getting Isaiah Thomas in return who unfortunately played just 15 games for the team that season before being released. Jae Crowder was also sent over in the deal and spent one-half season with the team and helped them reach the NBA Finals.
Kyrie would go on to accomplish great things individually and still remain an All-Star and All-NBA-level talent. Even though he hasn’t been back to an NBA Finals since then, the Cavaliers completely botched this deal and the draft picks that came with it, selecting Collin Sexton and Skylar Mays. For the type of star Kyrie was at the time and continues to be today, this was perhaps the worst return for any deal in their team’s history.
