The Cavaliers’ No. 1 jersey has been a little bit of everything over the years: a brief stop, a steady veteran run, a sharpshooter’s badge, and, most recently, a new face with big expectations.
Now, with James Harden heading into his first full season in Cleveland, that number is back in the spotlight as the Cavs get ready to face the 76ers tomorrow night.
The list starts back in the 70s with Higgs, the first player to wear No. 1 for the Cavaliers. He logged 68 games for Cleveland before his NBA career was essentially finished, though his college legacy lived on in Louisiana, where he remains LSU’s all-time assists leader.
Brandon also belongs in the conversation, even though he already showed up in the No. 11 countdown. He wore No. 1 during his final two seasons with the Cavs, and those were the best years of his career. He made the All-Star team in both seasons, landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated as “The Best Point Guard in the NBA,” and put up 19.5 points and nearly seven assists per game.
Then came Wesley Person, who arrived on October 1st 1997 and gave the Cavs exactly what they needed: shooting. In his first season in Cleveland, he led the league with 192 made 3-pointers while hitting 43% from deep.
He started all 82 games, averaged 40 minutes a night, and finished with 12 points per game over 328 games as a Cavalier. His 550 made threes still rank 10th in team history.
Of all the players to wear No. 1, Boobie Gibson had the longest run with it.
He spent all seven of his NBA seasons in Cleveland, appearing in 397 games, and became a cult favorite along the way. He wasn’t flashy, but when the minutes were there, he made them count.
As a rookie, he led all rookies in 3-point percentage at 42%, and he finished his career as a 40% shooter from beyond the arc. On those early LeBron James-led teams, Gibson was one of the guys James trusted to find on kick-outs after driving into the lane.
The number also connects back to one of the strangest chapters in recent Cavaliers history. The 2018 team changed fast after the Kyrie Irving trade, bringing in Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and Jose Calderon in a roster shake-up meant to salvage the season.
Rose appeared in only 16 games before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the whole veteran-heavy group was eventually moved out for a younger core. It remains a huge what-if for a Cavs team that could have been in the championship mix.
Now Harden gets his turn, and there’s real buzz around what this Cleveland team can be with a full offseason behind him. He’s also challenging Evan Mobley with "ultimate confidence" this season.
In Other News...
Cavs Opening Night Collapse Raises An Ugly Early Question
The Cavaliers looked ready to put a bow on Opening Night with a runaway first half against Philadelphia, leaning on a strong start that had them up by 29 points before the game completely flipped. Instead, the Sixers took over after the break and turned what had felt like a comfortable season opener into an immediate reminder that early leads do not mean much if a team cannot sustain its edge.
For Cleveland, the most promising part of the night may have been the play of Mario Hezonja, whose return to the NBA gave the lineup a jolt on both ends even as the finish went sideways. The bigger concern is harder to ignore: when Philadelphia tightened the screws, the Cavaliers frontcourt stopped producing enough to keep control, leaving an ugly early question hanging over a roster that expected a far smoother start. [Read more 🡒]
Evan Mobley Reignited A Cavs Concern Fans Know Too Well
The Cavaliers season opener followed a familiar pattern for a team trying to take the next step, with a solid first-half performance giving way to a loss after the lead slipped away in the second half. Evan Mobley was central to the early surge, giving Cleveland a much-needed lift on offense while still serving as the defensive anchor the club leans on so heavily.
Mobleys value on that end has never been in doubt, but the bigger question remains how often he can keep his offense engaged when the game tightens. For a Cavs team that needs more from him than rim protection and the occasional burst, the opener only sharpened the focus on whether he can bring the same presence across all four quarters. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Need To Stop Putting The Wrong Burden On Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell has never needed much help proving he can score, and that is still the clearest way for the Cavaliers to get the most out of him. The issue is not whether he can make plays for others, but whether Cleveland is asking him to spend too much time doing it when his best value comes from attacking as a scorer and forcing defenses to react to him.
The guard rotation should be built around preserving that focus, with the ball-handling load leaning more heavily on others so Mitchell can stay in his preferred lane. His assist totals can look useful on the surface, but they are often more a byproduct of how the game unfolds than evidence that the Cavaliers are best served by making him the organizer every night. [Read more 🡒]