Every longtime Cleveland Cavaliers fan remembers exactly where they were on June 19, 2016. It’s impossible to forget the anxiety that turned into euphoria when the final buzzer sounded, LeBron James fell to the floor, and a professional sports team in Cleveland was crowned champion for the first time in 52 years.
Members of the current Cavaliers had a different perspective on that Finals.
Larry Nance Jr. is the only one from the current group who grew up in the area and was in the league a decade ago. The rest were just college, high school, or even middle school-aged kids watching one of the best Finals of their lifetime.
Jaylon Tyson was 13-years old at the time, but he remembers that Finals vividly.
“I was 1,000% locked in,” Tyson told Fear the Sword. “We were seeing it at my dad’s house. Me, him, and my little brother were sitting there watching it. And all I remember is the block. I got up. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Tyson grew up a fan of LeBron, so he was thrilled with the result.
“I was happy for LeBron, happy for Cleveland, obviously, and then I got drafted here,” Tyson said. “It was a full-circle moment.”
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Lonzo Ball was a little older. He was preparing for his freshman year of college at the time.
“I did like the Cavs at that time,” Ball told Fear the Sword. “LeBron was my favorite player, so I actually watched Game 7 in my homie’s dorm room in UCLA on a little, tiny ass 30-inch screen.
“College life was definitely exciting. I was on the basketball team, so obviously, we loved the game. So, can’t really ask for anything better than that Game 7 and for it to end the way it did.”
Dean Wade had a similar story. He watched the game with his college teammates at the Kansas State practice facility.
“Half my team was split, like 50/50,” Wade said to Fear the Sword. “We were all cheering for a different team. It was the loudest the locker room had ever gotten.”
Wade was also rooting for the Cavs, but more so out of a disdain for the Warriors.
Not everyone was as locked in. Both De’Andre Hunter and Nae’Qwan Tomlin followed the series as high schoolers, but they weren’t living and dying with every possession.
Jarrett Allen didn’t watch that Finals at all, admitting that he didn’t pay attention to the NBA when he was in high school.
Then, there’s Craig Porter Jr., who was 16 at the time, remembers the actually important stuff.
“I remember J.R. Smith,” Porter told Fear the Sword. “I remember some shit like he ain’t put a shirt on for a week or something like that. I remember that it was one of the biggest parades. [Matthew] Dellavedova almost died guarding Curry.”
Delly was hospitalized during the 2015 series, but that’s important lore in the Cavs and Warriors rivalry.
“I wasn’t a fan of either team,” Porter said. “But you gotta watch that. It’s the best brand of basketball.”
Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers will be as close to a 10-year celebration of that Finals as the Cavs will get. It’s the one time LeBron will be back in Cleveland this season. They’ll undoubtedly show highlights from that series, and the crowd will give him a standing ovation.
Even though 10 years have passed, we still haven’t seen a Finals come close to recreating the cultural and local impact that one did. And it will likely be several more decades until we see one that rivals it.
That 2016 Cavaliers team and championship are one of one.
“In my opinion, it was the finest Finals victory there ever was,” Ball said.
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