9 Cleveland Cavaliers that never played a single minute

Here is where we will get technical with our criteria. Our thesis for this piece is to look at players who were officially on the Cleveland Cavaliers but never played a single minute. Andrew Bogut makes the cut because he technically did not play a minute for the Cavs: he made it just 56 seconds.

Bogut was the first overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, establishing himself as a defensive anchor for the Milwaukee Bucks despite struggling with various injuries. He was then the centerpiece of a trade that sent Monta Ellis to Milwaukee and landed Bogut on the Golden State Warriors, helping to propel them into the playoffs and a few years later starting for two NBA Finals teams and one championship alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

In the summer of 2016 the Warriors were reloading after the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat them in the NBA Finals, and they jumped at a chance to sign Kevin Durant. The cost was Bogut, who was moved to the Dallas Mavericks to clear cap space. After playing most of a season with the Mavs he agreed to a buyout and signed with the Cavaliers for the stretch run and a presumed rematch with his old team.

That rematch never happened, unfortunately, as Bogut’s debut was disastrous. He came off the bench on March 6th against the Miami Heat and broke his leg just 56 seconds later. He would end up heading overseas shortly thereafter, starring in Australia’s NBL, then return to the Warriors for one last run in 2018-19.