NBA players don't hold the same hatred of rivals as fans do - which is how some of them can leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the worst teams.
The Cavaliers may not have quite the same level of animosity toward another team as, say, the Boston Celtics have toward the Los Angeles Lakers, but there are certainly rivals about. Some are born from history and proximity, such as the Detroit Pistons, but many others are born from playoff battles, such as the Boston Celtics or Golden State Warriors.
When have players left the Cavaliers and broken the hearts of fans? It's not when they are traded to a rival -- no maligning of Georges Niang here because he was traded to the Boston Celtics -- but when they choose of their own accord to join a rival team. Let's look at five examples in the last 15 years of Cavaliers joining hated rivals -- including a coach and a couple of superstars.
No. 5: Anderson Varajao >> Golden State Warriors
The Cleveland Cavaliers moved on from longtime big man and beloved player Anderson Varajao at the 2016 Trade Deadline, flipping him for stretch big Channing Frye. That was a trade that set them up to become an offensive juggernaut, and Frye played a key role in their championship run.
Varajao was promptly bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers and chose to sign with the Golden State Warriors. He ended up facing the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals just four months later, the epitome of going from friend to foe. Some fans were able to divide their heart and still cherish the Brazilian big, but others turned on him.
No. 4 + 3: J. B. Bickerstaff and Caris LeVert >> Detroit Pistons
Ask five Cavaliers fans and you may get five different answers, but Cleveland's longest-standing rival is probably the Detroit Pistons. A similar town just up the lake from Cleveland with a team that has been around and good at similar times to the Cavaliers. They have had their fair share of clashes, including in the Eastern Conference Finals during LeBron's first run in Cleveland.
That is why it is painful to see J.B. Bickerstaff leave the Cavaliers -- that was not his fault, as they fired him -- and join the franchise's longest standing rival. He had immediate success, which again generated mixed feelings in fans. The Pistons are suddenly good again, in large part because of Bickerstaff's skill as a coach. It's hard to continue rooting for him when he is leveling up your rival.
Caris LeVert was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February after multiple seasons in Cleveland, and this summer he hit free agency and rejoined Bickerstaff in Detroit. Another well-liked player signing on with a Cleveland rival. It will not be fun for many Cavaliers fans seeing him play for Detroit.
No. 2: LeBron James >> Miami Heat
LeBron James returning to Cleveland to win a championship and take the franchise to four consecutive NBA Finals did a lot to heal this wound, but leaving the Cavaliers to join an East rival was incredibly painful when it happened. He spurned his hometown franchise in the middle of a television spectacle to make another team great. Tomes of paper and ink have been spilled on the move, and the Heat are more of a rival now because of The Decision than they were before, but it broke Cleveland hearts in a major way.
No. 1: Kyrie Irving >> Boston Celtics
Kyrie Irving demanding a trade in 2017, coming off of the team's third consecutive run to the NBA Finals and arguably their best season ever in terms of overall team quality, was the epitome of a heart-breaking move. For Irving to then steer himself to the Boston Celtics, the team's hated playoff rival, was a bridge too far.
It made Irving enemy No. 1 in Cleveland for a number of years, and many fans have not been able to heal and return to loving him for what he brought to the franchise. He stabbed James and the franchise in the back and went off to seek his own fame and fortune; that he has not found it, and flamed out so spectacularly in Boston and Brooklyn, is music to the ears of betrayed Cavaliers fans.