Four times this season, a team has won at least 10 consecutive games. Those teams? The Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers....the Cleveland Cavaliers....and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Three of those four streaks belong to the Cavaliers, who are having a truly dominant season. Starting the year 15-0 was a magical run, and few thought this team would have an even better run of games. Yet after dispatching the Memphis Grizzlies in their last game, the Cavs are now riding a 16-game winning streak.
It's hardly a quirk of the schedule, either. Seven surefire playoff teams lay in Cleveland's wake over these 16 wins, including victories in Boston, in Milwaukee and in Memphis. The Cavaliers are legitimately dominating the NBA this season.
It begs the question: how often has an NBA team won 16-straight games in a single season? And what does history have to say about the Cavaliers' chances in the playoffs this year?
How many NBA teams have won 16-straight games?
31 times in the history of the National Basketball Association has a team won 16-straight games inside of a single regular season. That means that roughly once every three seasons or so, a team does accomplish that level of success.
Before this season's Cavaliers, the last team to win 16-straight was the 2022-23 Milwaukee Bucks, who also won 16-straight games behind the pure dominance of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Before that Bucks team, the Phoenix Suns won 18-straight in 2021 and would later make the NBA Finals.
This ability to get hot and rip off a long streak of games is apparently more of a feature of the modern game. 19 of the 31 times an NBA team has won 16-straight or more have come since the year 2000. Only eight times did a team pull off the accomplishment prior to 1991.
The Cavaliers are hardly done with their current streak, and a couple of more wins could easily propel them into even more rarified air. Only 14 teams have ever won 18 straight games; only 9 have made it to 9 straight victories. And just five teams have won 20 straight games.
Making it to 19 also appears to unlock some historical significance. Of those nine teams, six made it to the NBA Finals in the season of their streak. That includes five eventual champions: the 1972 Lakers, the 2000 Lakers, the 2008 Boston Celtics, the 2013 Miami Heat and the 2014 San Antonio Spurs.
How many teams have won 15-straight...twice?
That list is a much shorter won, featuring only seven teams including this season's Cleveland Cavaliers. Here are all seven teams:
- 2024-25 Cavaliers (15- & 15-game streaks)
- 2006-07 Phoenix Suns (15- & 17-game streaks)
- 1999-00 Los Angeles Lakers (16- & 19-game streaks)
- 1996-97 Utah Jazz (15- & 15-game streaks)
- 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33-game streak)
- 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (16- & 20-game streaks)
- 1946-47 Washington Capitols (17- & 15-game streaks)
While this feat is less common and arguably more impressive, this list has more mixed postseason success than the 19-straight wins club. The 2007 Phoenix Suns lost in the Western Conference Finals, as did the 1947 Washington Capitols in the league's inaugural season. The 1997 Utah Jazz lost in the NBA Finals. And three teams -- the 2000 Lakers, the 1972 Lakers and the 1971 Bucks -- won it all.
Entering into both groups? That's where history is ready to officially anoint the Cavaliers. If they can win 19-straight games and pair it with another 15-game streak? That list is just two teams, both champions: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, and Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.
No matter how you slice it, what the Cavaliers have accomplished this season is impressive and speaks highly of their chances to win it all. The more the win, the more confidence should grow in their ability to bring home the franchise's second championship. This team is for real, and history is ready to back that fact up.