Counting Down the Cavs: Breaking Down the Number 2 in Cleveland's History

Although the official NBA season starts this afternoon, the Cavaliers still have two more days until they face the 76ers in their opener.

The first time it was worn goes back to 1977 and Mo Howard who played just 9 games, but an interesting thing I learned from players wearing number 2, is that a few of them became coaches in the NBA.

Mike Woodson: 1991

After playing in the NBA for 10 years, Woodson arrived in Cleveland in year 11 via trade from the Houston Rockets. He would play in only 4 games for the Cavs before retiring.

Woodson returned to the Cavs as an assistant coach from 1999-2001 before moving on to have a legendary coaching career and winning an NBA Championship as an assistant of the 2004 Pistons.

Scott Brooks: 1998

Another guy who had a long gritty NBA career and came to Cleveland at the end. Brooks played 43 games before he retired and also became a coach like Woodson.

Accumulating 521 total coaching wins, he was the leader in Oklahoma City from 2008-2015 and made a Finals appearance in 2012. Then he moved on to coach John Wall and Bradley Beal on the Wizards from 2015-2021. Now he is a lead assistant for JJ Redick’s Lakers team.

DaJuan Wagner: 2003-2005

After a great rookie season, DaJuan Wagner struggled with health in the NBA. Playing in just 102 games for the Cavs, his career was cut short due to a non basketball disease. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, it would hospitalize him regularly and the Cavs did not renew his rookie contract. He would gradually retire from the NBA at 23, but tried for an NBA comeback when he was 31.

Kyrie Irving: 2012-2017

Will his number be retired by the Cavs when his career is over? It is still up in the air, but his career with the Cavs will be highlighted by his shot in the 2016 NBA Finals that was crucial in the team winning the championship that season/

Before LeBron returned, it looked like Kyrie was going to be the guy to bring the team back, and then it looked as if James and Irving would be in Cleveland for the rest of their careers and win even more. Unfortunately it seemed that there was a rift between Irving and James and he was traded to the Celtics in the 2017 offseason.

Post-Kyrie Cavaliers

Ever since the Kyrie trade, it has seemed that despite being on the team, they would never last. Collin Sexton was the first guy and seemed to be the player to do it, but he was traded for Donovan Mitchell.

Then Ty Jerome wore number 2 and played well, but after struggling in the playoffs, the Cavs let him go in free agency after 2 years. Most recently, Lonzo Ball and Max Strus both wore number 2 and are no longer on the team as well.

Will any of these recent players become head coaches in the future?

Add us as a preferred source on Google