The Cleveland Cavaliers look like the best team in the NBA this season.
Some will quibble with who the best team in the NBA actually is, with the superior metrics of the Oklahoma City Thunder or the track record of the Boston Celtics coming to bear. But suffice it to say, the Cavaliers are an awesome team and right at the top of the league.
Is this the greatest team in the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers? They very well might set the franchise record for wins this year, but at the same time it's hard to point to a team other than the 2016 or 2017 rosters as the best teams, especially since each made it to the NBA Finals in dominant fashion.
Many of the players from those teams are still in the league and playing for other teams. Other players have cycled through the franchise in the years since before moving on to other teams. We highlighted a few such players recently who have seen their careers go to the next level elsewhere, but overall there are enough former Cavaliers players still in the league to fill an entire roster.
If that is the case, why don't we do just that - fill an entire roster of Cleveland alumni and build the best possible team. Would that team, able to cherry-pick stars from around the league, be better than the current league-leading squad? Which team would win in a seven-game playoff series against each other?
Let's look at the roster and then break down which team would win it all.
Rules: Building one 12-man roster of players who were on the Cleveland Cavaliers, no matter how briefly. Contracts are not considered. Players are evaluated based on their current level of play, not their level of play when on the Cavaliers.
Building the best team of former Cavaliers
Guard: Kyrie Irving, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Seth Curry
If you are looking for small guards then the ex-Cavaliers are the place to be, as the team has had a number of them cycle through (and we didn't even choose Isaiah Thomas, about as small as they get). Kyrie Irving leads the way, having another All-Star season for the Dallas Mavericks as he extends his prime at age 32. He will be the highest-usage player on offense on the team.
The Utah Jazz boast a pair of guards to add to the roster as well, with Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton both packing some scoring punch with a dash of playmaking sprinkled on top. Seth Curry is still small but a very different type of player, an elite shooter and off-ball player to give the bench a different look if and when he is called upon.
Wing/Forward: LeBron James, Lauri Markkanen, Andrew Wiggins, Ochai Agbaji, Taurean Prince
LeBron James at age 40 of course leads the way here, as he continues to play at an All-Star level. He and Irving are reunited as the stars of this team, still playing at a high level all these years later. What is new is that the third "star" of the team this time around is Lauri Markkanen, who has continued to level up as an offensive force and will bring floor-spacing and scoring to the team.
Andrew Wiggins may end up starting if the head coach (Ty Lue with Mike Brown and J.B. Bickerstaff assisting) wants to go big, slotting him at the 2. He never played a game for the team as he was traded a few months after being drafted as the centerpiece of the Kevin Love deal. He is one of the league's better 3-and-D wings even if you don't need his on-ball scoring ability.
Ochai Agbaji likewise was traded before his first game as a rookie, this time in the Donovan Mitchell trade, and after a few lost seasons has found his footing and looks like a long-term 3-and-D wing in the league. Finally, Taurean Prince gives the team some depth and provides a veteran body ready to be called upon if needed.
Center: Isaiah Hartenstein, Larry Nance Jr., Kevin Love
For a brief stretch of games in the 2020-21 season, all three of these players were on the Cleveland Cavaliers together, squashed into the rotation around starting center Jarrett Allen. Now all three have gone their separate ways.
Isaiah Hartenstein is the most accomplished of the three right now, starting for the West-leading Thunder and playing high-level two-way basketball as a rim protector, playmaking and scorer. Larry Nance Jr. is an ideal complement to Hartenstein, a switch-capable floor-spacing big to give a different look. A front line of Nance, James, Wiggins and Agbaji would be capable of switching the vast majority of actions and would be a look this team could go to at times during games.
Kevin Love deserves to be on the roster for old times' sake, but he is also still a solid rebounder and shooter and a great third big to have on board.
Which Cavaliers team would win?
When comparing the two teams to one another, the current Cavaliers have an advantage right off the bat: the former players don't have a Top-10 player, nor more "stars" overall. One of the few weaknesses of the current team is that they don't have the Top-10 player most elite teams have; no worries here, as LeBron has been more of a Top-20 player this year, and Markkanen and Irving would be in the 20-35 range in the league.
The current team has four Top-40 players, giving them a strong top-end of talent. They also have a number of useful role players, from shooters like Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill and Georges Niang to two-way wings like Isaac Okoro and Max Strus to the do-it-all Caris LeVert and the secret weapon of Dean Wade. This is a deep team.
That matches up well with the former team's depth, as they have multiple scoring threats to bring in off the bench and a plethora of two-way wings and forwards to rotate through. They can play hard and then tag out for a similar player to jump in, and they can mold the lineup to match the opponents they are facing.
These two teams truly do see evenly matched. Evan Mobley and LeBron James. Donovan Mitchell vs Kyrie Irving. Darius Garland is an elite third option, but so is Lauri Markkanen. Jarrett Allen got the best of Isaiah Hartenstein when they last met, but both are incredible two-way centers as fourth options here.
The final decision here, therefore, goes to the shooting that the current team brings to the table throughout its rotation, and to the Evan Mobley cheat code at center when Hartenstein and Allen leave the court. Nance, Love or even LeBron are not stopping Mobley inside at this point in his ascension. And the potential for the current team to rain down 3-pointers could overwhelm the former Clevelanders.
It would be an excellent series, going 6 or even 7 games, but in the end LeBron James and company would fall to the current team. And that reality is an extremely exciting one for fans of what this year's team can accomplish.