The history of No. 4 in Cleveland starts with Campy Russell, the first Cavs player to wear it. After his first stint with the team, Russell retired after 3 games in the number in 1985.
The jersey later went to a rookie who quickly turned into one of the franchise’s brightest stars. Mark Price was a 5-time NBA champion eventually, but his first years in the league came in Cleveland, where he piled up records and established himself as a standout scorer for his age. In his rookie season, he averaged 23 points a game, posted 10 steals in a game, and still holds the Cavaliers’ rookie scoring record, even ahead of LeBron James.
Price came to Cleveland by trade after a long run in Seattle, and the switch also meant a change in style. He moved from the Sonics’ faster offense into a slower-paced Cavs attack and became one of the team’s main options alongside Big Z. In his first season after signing a historic 7-year $107 contract, he was an All-Star and helped push the Cavaliers into the playoffs.
The number later carried another big name with a complicated Cleveland story. Shawn Kemp’s explosiveness faded during the lockout season of 1999, and after that he was traded to Portland. From there, he became one of the franchise’s biggest what-ifs.
Antawn Jamison also wore No. 4 in a move that was supposed to be the last important piece of a LeBron James title run in Cleveland. Instead, it became another case of brutal timing, with James leaving for Miami soon after Jamison arrived. Jamison still produced, averaging 18 points a game for the Cavs, and after the team traded fan favorite Zydrunas Ilgauskas to get him, he later became a leader on a struggling roster that eventually landed Kyrie Irving.
Iman Shumpert brought a different kind of impact to the number. He arrived with JR Smith from the Knicks and gave the Cavaliers a burst of energy on the championship team.
He was viewed as a 3 and D answer for Cleveland, with the Cavs regularly outscoring opponents by 10 points a game on average when he was on the floor. Ty Lue saw him as his top defensive stopper and used him against the toughest All-Star and All-NBA matchups.
Now the number belongs to Evan Mobley, who has been steady in Cleveland while fans wait for the next jump. A Defensive Player of the Year winner and the team’s defensive anchor, he has hovered around 18 and 9 over the last two seasons.
The Cavs decided not to trade him this year, even with All-NBA and MVP talent on the table, because they’re banking on a breakout season. Kenny Atkinson is planning to use him differently this year, hoping to turn him into something like a former MVP and NBA Champion.
In Other News...
Donovan Mitchells Guardians Connection Has Cavs Fans Loving This Cleveland Story
Donovan Mitchell and Jo Adell have turned a shared basketball-and-baseball friendship into one of those easy Cleveland crossovers that fans cant help but notice. The connection goes back to Louisville, Kentucky, long before either man was wearing a Cleveland uniform, and it has followed them to a city that loves when its stars show up for one another. Mitchell wore Adells jersey during a Cavaliers preseason game, while Adell returned the favor by showing up in Mitchells gear at a Guardians playoff game.
The link between the two only deepened in October, when Mitchell took part in the postseason spotlight around the Guardians and stepped onto the field for the ceremonial first pitch. For Cleveland fans, it was another reminder that the citys pro teams are overlapping in ways that feel personal, not staged. Even better, the Mitchell-Adell connection has given both fan bases something to smile about while the baseball stakes keep climbing. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Young Depth Is Forcing A Tough Rotation Call
The Cavaliers came out of the preseason with something every coach likes and every coach also has to manage carefully: more useful young players than obvious openings. Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr., Meleek Thomas and Peyton Watson all made a case for more regular minutes, and the early read is that Kenny Atkinsons starting lineup is pretty well set. After that, though, the picture gets murkier, with the depth chart beyond the top five still very much in evaluation mode.
Tyson looks like he could become a key reserve, Watson is expected to start at small forward because of his defensive versatility, and Porter and Thomas are in the mix for backup guard jobs. For a team trying to build continuity without burying developmental talent, that creates a real rotation dilemma, one that may linger even after the opener if these younger pieces keep performing the way they did in exhibition play. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Face A James Harden Decision That Could Test Everything
The Cavaliers are weighing an idea that would ask James Harden to sacrifice some traditional starter status in the name of a better overall fit with Donovan Mitchell. The concept is simple enough on paper: keep one of the leagues most ball-dominant guards from overlapping too much with another high-usage creator, then use the lineup more flexibly to maximize Clevelands offense. It is the sort of roster-management question that can sound radical until a team starts looking at how its best pieces actually function together.
A similar experiment with Russell Westbrook on the Lakers is part of the backdrop here, and it shows how delicate these decisions can be when star power meets lineup balance. For Cleveland, the appeal is not just about trimming awkward possessions, but about preserving Hardens impact while getting the most from Mitchell in the minutes that matter most. For now, it is still a possibility rather than a plan, but it is the kind of idea that can shape everything from rotation patterns to how the Cavaliers want to close games. [Read more 🡒]