The team won their first Central Division title in 1976, which also marked the first winning season and playoff appearance in franchise history, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Stepien's tenure as owner was marked by six coaching changes, questionable trades and draft decisions, and poor attendance, leading to $15 million in financial losses.

During the latter half of the 1980s and through much of the 1990s, the Cavs were a regular playoff contender – led by players such as Mark Price and Brad Daugherty – and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992.

[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The 1976 team was led by Austin Carr, Bobby "Bingo" Smith, Jim Chones, Dick Snyder, Nate Thurmond and head coach Bill Fitch.

During Stepien's tenure, the Cavaliers made a practice of trading future draft picks for marginal veteran players.

[47] The Cavaliers built a team around James and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas by adding players such as Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Anderson Varajao.

[50][51] The 2008–09 Cavaliers won a franchise-record 66 games, including a franchise-best 39–2 record at home, but lost the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic.

[38] Despite the addition of four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal,[52] the 2009–10 Cavaliers were unable to return to the Eastern Conference Finals after losing to the Boston Celtics in the second round.

[53] On July 8, 2010, James announced in a nationally televised one-hour special titled The Decision that he would be signing with the Miami Heat.

While the Heat had a 224–88 record during James' four-year tenure and won NBA titles in 2012 and 2013, the Cavaliers went 97–215 and missed the playoffs each season.

[38][59] The 2016 NBA Championship marked the Cavaliers' first title in franchise history, as they became the first team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win the Finals.

[60] The Cavaliers' roster went through many changes in the 2017–18 season, most notably the trade of Irving to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas and other assets.

[38][65][66] In the 2021–22 season, the Cavs finished 44–38 and eighth in the Eastern Conference, and qualified for the NBA play-in tournament, marking the first time the team played in the event.

The team, however, did not make it out of the play-in tournament, losing the game to the Brooklyn Nets and then to the Atlanta Hawks, ending their season.

[68] On October 25, 2023, it was announced that defensive end Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns had purchased a minority ownership stake in the Cavaliers.

Coinciding with the move to Gund Arena in the 1994–95 season, the Cavaliers changed logos and uniforms, adding black in addition to the already existing blue, orange and white colors.

In the 1999–2000 season, the Cavaliers opted to go for a cleaner look, eliminating the splash and adding an orange and blue line that runs through the shorts.

[79] The Cavaliers switched to a modified version of the team's classic wine-and-gold scheme in the 2003–04 season: metallic gold and a crimson shade of wine with navy blue added.

The logo used was a gold sword piercing through the words "Cleveland Cavaliers" in white and navy trim, with a wine basketball surrounding it.

The Cavaliers debuted new uniforms before the start of the 2010–11 NBA season to coincide with the team returning to the original shades of wine and gold used from 1970 to 1983.

[80] The home uniform is white with a wine-and-gold horizontal stripe trim on the collar, sleeves, waistband and pant legs, the word "CAVALIERS" (in block style lettering) in wine on the front of the jersey with wine lettering for the name and number, and white shoes and socks.

[83] The second wine uniform is similar to their regular road jersey, except that it features the arched mid-1980s Cavs logo and white numerals in gold trim.

A black sleeved uniform features the wine "C" logo in front and was famously worn in the title-clinching Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

[90] For the 2022–23 NBA season, the Cavaliers unveiled an updated logo and color scheme, removing navy blue while reverting to the metallic gold first used from 1980 to 1983, and from 2003 to 2010.

[91][92] From the 2008–09 to the 2011–12 season, the Cavaliers wore special "mash-up" uniforms – combining the style from one era with the color scheme of another – on select "CavFanatic Nights".

[104][105][106] In honor of the Cavs winning the NBA Championship, the city of Independence renamed the section of Brecksville Road leading to the team's practice facility "Cavaliers Way" in November 2016.

The following is a list of past Cavaliers players and other personnel who have been honored as "Cavs Legends" – either by retiring their number or having commemorative banners placed in the rafters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

[124] The broadcast team includes play-by-play announcer John Michael, sideline reporter Serena Winters, and former Cavalier players Austin Carr and Brad Daugherty alternating as analysts.

Cayleigh Griffin and former Cavaliers guard Daniel "Boobie" Gibson host the pregame/halftime/postgame shows when Carr is serving as game analyst.

The former was inspired by Cleveland radio DJ Alan Freed, who popularized the phrase "rock and roll" and had called himself "Moondog".