Counting Down the Cavs: Breaking Down the Number 18 in Cavaliers History

With 18 days until the start of the Cavs 2026/27 season that means today we are going over all the players to wear it for the team.

The 19 yesterday had some deep history, and today the 18 has a list of eight players. Starting out in 1971.

McCoy McLemore 1971

The 6’9 forward played for the Cavs in their inaugural season in the NBA. McLemore was traded off the team during that 1971 season and played 58 games for the team in his sole season.

In that season, he ended up playing 86 games in the season because he was traded from Cleveland to then play another 28 games with the Milwaukee Bucks.

He averaged 11.7 points a game in that one year in Cleveland.

Hot Rod Williams 1987-1995

One of the longest tenured number 18’s for the Cavs. Williams was a part of the Cavs team coached by Lenny Wilkens and played alongside Mark Price and Brad Daugherty.

His rookie year he made the All-Rookie team and was a dominating force on defense during his time with the team. During his time, he was considered one of the best and most versatile sixth men in the NBA despite never winning the award.

After his dominating season in 1990 where he averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks earned him a contract that made him one of the five highest paid players in the NBA at the time. Hot Rod signed a 7 year $26.5 million contract.

In his 9 years in Cleveland, Hot Rod Williams sits inside the top 10 in many of the teams career categories.

2nd all-time in blocks with 1,200. 3rd in minutes with 20,802. 4th in rebounds with 4,669. 6th in games played with 661and with 7,451 points has him 7th in franchise history.

Unfortunately, in 2015 John "Hot Rod" Williams passed away at just 53 after a battle with cancer. He was a member of the inaugural Wall of Honor in 2019.

Matthew Dellavedova 2019-2021

Delly, one of the most popular Cavaliers of all time, played in Cleveland in two different stints. His later stint in 2019 had him in the number 18.

The Cavs picked him up in the 2018/19 season from the Bucks and he went to play 106 games in the 18. During that second stint he was helping in the development of Darius Garland.

His switch to the number 18 came with a fun video online where he had his former number 8 jersey, which was being worn by Jordan Clarkson at the time, but he used a sharpie and wrote a 1 next to his 8 in the announcement.

Dellavedova is being honored this year by the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 12th against the Golden State Warriors of course after his tremendous defense in the 2016 Finals on Steph Curry.

Others to wear the number 18 were Charlie Davis in 1972, Kornel David in 2000, Anthony Parker in 2012, Mike Miller in 2015, and Chuma Okeke in 2025.

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