2016–17 Cleveland Cavaliers season

The 2016–17 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 47th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). For the first time in franchise history, the Cavaliers entered the season as the defending NBA champions, having defeated the Golden State Warriors in seven games in the NBA Finals where they came back from a 3–1 deficit, becoming the first team in NBA Finals history to do so. The Cavaliers also broke the record of most made three-pointers in a regular season game with 25 against the Atlanta Hawks.

The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 51–31 record, securing the second seed. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers defeated and swept the Indiana Pacers in four games in the First Round, advancing to the Semi-finals. They then defeated and swept the Toronto Raptors in four games, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals. They defeated the top-seeded Boston Celtics in five games to advance to the NBA Finals for the third straight season. In the 2017 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers faced off against the Golden State Warriors for the third consecutive year, becoming the first two teams to meet three consecutive times in the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers would lose in five games against the Warriors in the NBA Finals.

After the season, David Griffin left as general manager and after hearing about trade rumors, most notably a 3-team deal that was confirmed by team and league sources that would've sent Paul George and Eric Bledsoe to the Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving and Channing Frye to the Phoenix Suns, Irving, not being content about the situation and per his request, was traded to the Boston Celtics for Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, Ante Žižić, a 2018 1st round draft pick (Collin Sexton was later selected), and a 2020 2nd round draft pick (Skylar Mays was later selected) was added as compensation for Isaiah Thomas's injury. This trade ended the superteam era of the Cavaliers.

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