The Most Important Trade in Cleveland Cavaliers Franchise History

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not had the best luck with their NBA trades in recent history, but in the last 25 years, there were a few that changed the team.

Sep 26, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0), forward LeBron James (23) and guard Kyrie Irving (2) laugh during a photo session during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In July of 2010, then Cleveland Cavaliers star and two-time MVP winner LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach. This move was massive, but it was a sign and trade with the Heat that allowed Miami to get Bron. 

Is this the most important trade in Cavs history? Maybe, but what did Cleveland get in that deal?

Cleveland instead got two first-round picks, a first round pick swap, and two seconds along with a $14.5 million trade exception.

Those picks ended up all being traded by the Cavs, one of them became JR Smith and Iman Shumpert.

So, this move, although impactful, is not the biggest or most important. That $14.5 million trade exception however is a part of the trade that got Cleveland Kyrie Irving.

June 26th, Cavs Draft Andrew Wiggins with First Overall Pick

Cleveland was coming off of a 33-49 and with just a 1.7% chance at the first pick they won the Draft Lottery. They would then go on to draft Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins.

This was followed by an announcement that many were waiting for.

July 11th, The Return

LeBron James would write an essay posted to Sports Illustrated about his return to Cleveland after winning two championships in Miami. He wanted Cleveland to win their first NBA championship and wanted to be the guy to do it.

He signed a two-year $42.2 million contract and then what followed should be considered the most important trade in Cavaliers history.

August 23, The Trade

A month after signing his rookie contract, Andrew Wiggins was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a three-team deal that got Cleveland Minnesota’s All-Star and All-NBA big man Kevin Love.

This is arguably the most important trade for the team in history. Love was the missing piece that Cleveland needed if they wanted to win that NBA championship. They did not have a dominant big man on the team at that point who could grab rebounds and shoot the ball.

Love was averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds over his time in Minnesota and was quickly developing a knack for hitting threes.

June 19th, 2016, "This Is For You"

He was traded to Cleveland to make their “Big 3” alongside Irving and James. They would go onto the NBA Finals in four consecutive seasons against the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry.

LeBron was able to win Cleveland the championship he owed them in 2016 when they beat the 73-9 Golden State Warriors who some believe to be the greatest NBA team of all time after going down 3-1 in the NBA Finals.

There was “The Block” from LeBron on Andre Iguodala, “The Shot” from Kyrie Irving over Curry to give Cleveland the lead, and if he was not there would still have been “The Stop” that Love put on Curry to shut him down at the end of the game. Curry has said that move cost them the entire championship.

Is this Cleveland’s most important trade in history?