2020–21 Cleveland Cavaliers season

The 2020–21 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 51st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They did not make it to the playoffs for the third season in a row.^[1]

2020–21 Cleveland Cavaliers season
Head coach	J. B. Bickerstaff
General manager	Koby Altman
Owner(s)	Dan Gilbert
Arena	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Results
Record	22–50 (.306)
Place	Division: 4th (Central) Conference: 13th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Bally Sports Ohio[upper-alpha 1]
Radio	WTAM WMMS
< 2019–20 2021–22 >

Draft

Main article: 2020 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College / Club
1	5	Isaac Okoro	Forward	USA	Auburn Tigers

Before the start of the 2020 NBA draft period, the Cavaliers' selection was originally held as the #3 selection due to them finishing their previous season with the third worst record in the NBA (only ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors) before the NBA suspended their season on March 12 and eventually cancelled Cleveland's season on June 5.^[2] Like Minnesota and Golden State, Cleveland held the best odds to jump up to the #1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft lottery, though the Cavaliers could have fallen as low as the #6 pick. However, unlike Minnesota and Golden State, Cleveland did not stay in the top 3; their first-round pick instead dropped down to the fifth selection of the draft. The Cavaliers didn't have a second round selection.^[3]

Trades

On January 13, 2021, the Cavaliers were part of a blockbuster four team trade. As part of the deal which was headlined by James Harden going to the Brooklyn Nets, the Cavs received center Jarrett Allen and forward Taurean Prince from Brooklyn, while sending guard Dante Exum and a 2022 first round draft pick to the Houston Rockets.^[4]

On January 22, 2021, the Cavaliers traded disgruntled small forward Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets for a highly protected future second-round pick.^[5]

Roster

2020–21 Cleveland Cavaliers roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 31 Allen, Jarrett 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 243 lb (110 kg) 1998-04-21 Texas G 18 Dellavedova, Matthew  6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1990-09-08 Saint Mary's G 21 Dotson, Damyean 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1994-05-06 Houston G 10 Garland, Darius 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 2000-01-26 Vanderbilt C 55 Hartenstein, Isaiah 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1998-05-05 Germany C 27 Kabengele, Mfiondu 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1997-08-14 Florida State F 0 Love, Kevin 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 251 lb (114 kg) 1988-09-07 UCLA G 3 Martin, Jeremiah (TW) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1996-06-19 Memphis F 22 Nance, Larry  6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1993-01-01 Wyoming G/F 35 Okoro, Isaac 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 2001-01-26 Auburn F 16 Osman, Cedi 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1995-04-08 Turkey F 12 Prince, Taurean  6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 1994-03-22 Baylor G 2 Sexton, Collin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-01-04 Alabama F 8 Stevens, Lamar 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1997-07-09 Penn State G 33 Thomas, Brodric (TW) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1997-01-28 Truman State F 32 Wade, Dean 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1996-11-20 Kansas State G 9 Windler, Dylan  6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 196 lb (89 kg) 1996-09-22 Belmont

Head coach J. B. Bickerstaff Assistant coach(es) Greg Buckner Dan Geriot Lindsay Gottlieb Antonio Lang J. J. Outlaw Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (GL) On assignment to G League affiliate (TW) Two-way affiliate player Injured Roster Last transaction: May 19, 2021

Standings

Division

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div	GP
y – Milwaukee Bucks	46	26	.639	–	26‍–‍10	20‍–‍16	11–1	72
pi – Indiana Pacers	34	38	.472	12.0	13‍–‍23	21‍–‍15	7–5	72
Chicago Bulls	31	41	.431	15.0	15‍–‍21	16‍–‍20	7–5	72
Cleveland Cavaliers	22	50	.306	24.0	13‍–‍23	9‍–‍27	4–8	72
Detroit Pistons	20	52	.278	26.0	13‍–‍23	7‍–‍29	1–11	72

Conference

Eastern Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	c − Philadelphia 76ers *	49	23	.681	–	72
2	x – Brooklyn Nets	48	24	.667	1.0	72
3	y – Milwaukee Bucks *	46	26	.639	3.0	72
4	x – New York Knicks	41	31	.569	8.0	72
5	y – Atlanta Hawks *	41	31	.569	8.0	72
6	x – Miami Heat	40	32	.556	9.0	72
7	x – Boston Celtics	36	36	.500	13.0	72
8	x – Washington Wizards	34	38	.472	15.0	72
9	pi – Indiana Pacers	34	38	.472	15.0	72
10	pi – Charlotte Hornets	33	39	.458	16.0	72
11	Chicago Bulls	31	41	.431	18.0	72
12	Toronto Raptors	27	45	.375	22.0	72
13	Cleveland Cavaliers	22	50	.306	27.0	72
14	Orlando Magic	21	51	.292	28.0	72
15	Detroit Pistons	20	52	.278	29.0	72

Notes

• z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
• c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
• y – Clinched division title
• x – Clinched playoff spot
• pb – Clinched play-in spot
• o – Eliminated from playoff contention
• * – Division leader

Player statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Isaac Okoro	67	67	32.4	.420	.290	.726	3.1	1.9	.9	.4	9.6
Dean Wade	63	19	19.2	.431	.366	.769	3.4	1.2	.6	.3	6.0
Collin Sexton	60	60	35.3	.475	.371	.815	3.1	4.4	1.0	.2	24.3
Cedi Osman	59	26	25.6	.374	.306	.800	3.4	2.9	.9	.2	10.4
Darius Garland	54	50	33.1	.451	.395	.848	2.4	6.1	1.2	.1	17.4
Jarrett Allen†	51	40	30.3	.609	.316	.690	9.9	1.7	.5	1.4	13.2
Damyean Dotson	46	7	19.7	.406	.289	.667	2.0	2.0	.3	.1	6.7
Lamar Stevens	40	0	12.5	.456	.160	.725	2.4	.6	.4	.3	4.1
Larry Nance Jr.	35	27	31.2	.471	.360	.612	6.7	3.1	1.7	.5	9.3
JaVale McGee†	33	1	15.2	.521	.250	.655	5.2	1.0	.5	1.2	8.0
Dylan Windler	31	0	16.5	.438	.338	.778	3.5	1.1	.6	.4	5.2
Taurean Prince†	29	6	23.7	.399	.415	.837	3.7	2.4	.7	.5	10.1
Brodric Thomas†	28	1	13.4	.366	.283	.667	1.8	.9	.5	.3	4.1
Andre Drummond†	25	25	28.9	.474	.000	.597	13.5	2.6	1.6	1.2	17.5
Kevin Love	25	25	24.9	.409	.365	.824	7.4	2.5	.6	.1	12.2
Isaiah Hartenstein†	16	2	17.9	.582	.333	.686	6.0	2.5	.5	1.2	8.3
Mfiondu Kabengele†	16	0	11.6	.421	.281	.786	2.9	.8	.4	.6	4.3
Matthew Dellavedova	13	1	17.2	.250	.160	1.000	1.8	4.5	.3	.1	2.8
Jeremiah Martin	9	0	8.3	.273	.250	.200	.8	.4	.6	.2	2.4
Thon Maker	8	0	9.5	.556	.000	.909	2.3	.5	.3	.5	3.8
Quinn Cook†	7	0	13.6	.405	.462	1.000	1.7	1.9	.4	.0	6.1
Danté Exum	6	3	19.3	.385	.182	.500	2.8	2.2	.7	.3	3.8
Marques Bolden	6	0	4.8	.333		.625	1.0	.0	.3	.3	1.2
Anderson Varejão	5	0	7.2	.250	.000	.556	4.0	.6	.0	.4	2.6
Yogi Ferrell†	2	0	20.0	.381	.333	.000	3.5	2.5	1.5	.5	9.5

• ^† Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Cavaliers only.

Transactions

Main article: List of 2020–21 NBA season transactions

Trades

November 23, 2020	To Cleveland Cavaliers 2025 second round pick	To Milwaukee Bucks Draft rights to İlkan Karaman
November 18, 2020[6]	To Cleveland Cavaliers JaVale McGee 2026 second round pick	To Los Angeles Lakers Jordan Bell Alfonzo McKinnie
November 23, 2020	To Cleveland Cavaliers Rayjon Tucker 2027 second round pick	To Utah Jazz Cash considerations
January 13, 2021[7][8][9]	To Cleveland Cavaliers Jarrett Allen Taurean Prince Draft rights to Sasha Vezenkov	To Brooklyn Nets James Harden 2024 second round pick
	To Houston Rockets Victor Oladipo Dante Exum Rodions Kurucs 2022 first round pick 2022 first round pick 2024 first round pick 2026 first round pick 2021 first round pick swap 2023 first round pick swap 2025 first round pick swap 2027 first round pick swap	To Indiana Pacers Caris LeVert 2023 second round pick 2024 second round pick Cash considerations
November 23, 2020[10]	To Cleveland Cavaliers 2024 second round pick	To Houston Rockets Kevin Porter Jr.
November 23, 2020[11]	To Cleveland Cavaliers Isaiah Hartenstein 2023 second round pick 2027 second round pick	To Denver Nuggets JaVale McGee

Free agency

Re-signed

Player	Signed
Isaac Okoro	November 21, 2020
Matthew Dellavedova	November 24, 2020
Marques Bolden	December 19, 2020
Quinn Cook	March 22, 2021

Additions

Player	Signed	Former team
Lamar Stevens	November 19, 2020	Undrafted
Damyean Dotson	November 24, 2020	New York Knicks
Charles Matthews	November 27, 2020	Unsigned
Marques Bolden	November 28, 2020	Canton Charge
Thon Maker	November 28, 2020	Detroit Pistons
Levi Randolph	December 1, 2020	Canton Charge
Norvel Pelle	December 19, 2020	Philadelphia 76ers
Yogi Ferrell	January 11, 2021	Sacramento Kings
Brodric Thomas	February 24, 2021	Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Quinn Cook	March 12, 2021	Los Angeles Lakers
Anderson Varejao	May 4, 2021	Flamengo Basketball

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	New team
Rayjon Tucker	Waived	Los Angeles Clippers
Norvel Pelle	Waived	Canton Charge
Matt Mooney	Waived	Raptors 905
Charles Matthews	Waived	Canton Charge
Levi Randolph	Waived	Canton Charge
Thon Maker	Waived
Andre Drummond	Waived	Los Angeles Lakers

Notes

1. Formerly Fox Sports Ohio until March 31, 2021.

References

1. "Cleveland Cavaliers Team Info and News". NBA.com. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
2. "NBA Mock Draft: Where do Prospects Stand After March Madness Cancellation?". Sports Illustrated.
3. "Cleveland Acquires Channing Frye". National Basketball Association. February 18, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
4. Nets acquire James Harden in blockbuster trade - NBA.com
5. Manning, Chris (January 21, 2021). "Kevin Porter Jr. traded to Houston". Fear the Sword.
6. "Cavaliers Acquire JaVale McGee from Los Angeles Lakers". NBA.com. November 23, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
7. "Brooklyn Nets Acquire James Harden". NBA.com. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
8. "Rockets Announce Revised Four-Team Trade". NBA.com. January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
9. "Cavaliers Acquire Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince from Brooklyn as Part of Three-Team Trade". NBA.com. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
10. "Cavaliers Trade Kevin Porter Jr. to Houston". NBA.com. January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
11. "Nuggets add JaVale McGee in deal with Cavaliers". NBA.com. March 26, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.