The Cleveland Cavaliers have an intriguing, albeit somewhat top-heavy, top-30 players in franchise history. Let’s get into it.
Let’s start with this: any franchise’s top player list that includes one of the top three or four players to ever play the game is going to carry some weight. But after LeBron James, the list gets much thinner for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There’s a number of All-Stars, although not that many that were named to the squad on a perennial basis. Plenty of role players and stars that spent short stints of their lengthy careers in Cleveland dot the list.
For this particular list, we’re only considering the seasons played in a Cavaliers uniform. For instance, Shawn Kemp was a monster in Seattle, but only made one of his six All-Star appearances with the Cavaliers. That causes him to slide further down this list than he would on a Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder list.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the ranking of the 30 greatest Cavaliers of all-time.
Danny Ferry spent the entire decade of the 1990s with the Cavaliers. He only averaged double-digits in points twice, but was a consistent member of the rotation for his entire time in Cleveland.
Ferry averaged a career-high 13.3 points while starting 79 games for the 1995-96 Cavs, who won 47 games under head coach Mike Fratello before being swept in the first round of the playoffs by the New York Knicks.
The following year, Ferry appeared in all 82 games, starting 48, and averaged 10.6 points per game while shooting 40.1 percent on 3.5 3-point attempts per game.
Ferry left Cleveland and finished his career with three seasons in San Antonio, winning a ring in his final season as a player. He eventually returned to Cleveland as general manager from 2005 to 2010.