. But the surging Cavaliers have the Eastern Conference’s best record and appear to be bona fide contenders
The poet Hanif Abdurraqib opens There’s Always This Year – his 2024 volume on the Cleveland Cavaliers, basketball and Ohio – with a meditation on the shared pain of Cavs fans before the arrival of LeBron James, and the unfettered joy he delivered with the 2016 NBA championship:
You are putting your hand into my open palm, and I am resting my one free hand atop yours, and I would like to commiserate here and now, about our enemies.
The enemies Abdurraqib speaks of are all who refuse to share in Cavs fans’ lament: a lifetime steeped in winless pain. The 2016 chip brought salvation, a religious nomenclature Abdurraqib uses throughout his memoir on the Cavs. When LeBron departed for Los Angeles in 2018, it felt like Cleveland had been cast back to the beginning of a parable. This season, they own the best record in the NBA and are back in championship contention. This iteration doesn’t have the best overall player of all time, LeBron, as their heliocentric savior. Instead, they have a talented, cohesive team of two-way players and, entering Wednesday night’s game at Miami, a 37-9 record. As they return to the class of true contenders, it begs a more vital question: can they really win it all?
For Cavs fans, losing has been a central part of the experience. Founded in 1970, the organization has been around for 54 years with the lone championship to their credit. It took 46 years to get there. So what now? For one, the pressure to finally win the first one is extinguished, thanks to LeBron fulfilling his prodigal son destiny. This year’s Cavs are a young roster with an average age of 26.9 years, suggesting a four- to five-year window to win another. They’ve already generated strong playoff experience, too, having reached the postseason the past two years with a conference semi-finals appearance in 2024. This makes it all …
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