Every Teammate LeBron James Has Ever Played With on the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ranked

Image via Complex Original

Lance Allred appeared in three games for the Cavaliers during the 2007-2008 NBA season. He is also the first legally deaf player in the NBA. So there's that. 

Who?

A first-round bust from the ill-fated 2000 Draft, Frenchman Jérôme Moïso was never able to pan out for the Boston Celtics, who drafted him No. 11 overall at the time. When he joined the Cavs in 2005, Moïso had already played for four other teams in-between. It was a doomed marriage from the start. 

Karl played in three games for the Cavs, and did not score a point. He is also the son of current Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl. 

McCoy played two games for the Cavs during LeBron's rookie season and did not register a point. He did, however, have a surprisingly long career in the league, playing from 1998 until 2008 before heading overseas to continue his career in China. 

Zendon Hamilton sounds more like the name of a character from the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century than the name of a professional basketball player. Hence, Hamilton's abbreviated stint with the Cavaliers. The former St. John's center couldn't become more than a mere footnote in the long, long list of nonstarters and also-rans from LeBron's career.  

In his second season in the league, Simmons appeared in just seven games as LeBron's teammate. Cleveland had acquired Simmons from New Orleans before the beginning of the 2007-2008 season as a part of a three-team trade, but even in just his sophomore year, it was clear that Simmons was a big bust. 

Scott Williams is perhaps the least-heralded three-time NBA champion to ever play the game. The former power forward-slash-center first joined the league in 1990 as a member of the Chicago Bulls, where he would play four seasons before playing for seven different teams throughout the next decade. Cleveland was Williams' final pit-stop, and, well, his end was just as unceremonious as you would expect: the life-long bench warmer appeared in just 19 games during the 2004-2005 season, scoring a total of 33 points. 

Fresh from earning the first and only ring of his career with the San Antonio Spurs in the 2004-2005 season, point guard Mike Wilks joined the Cavaliers the following year to fill out their cast of mostly undistinguished players. Seriously, if you can name the last five players of Cleveland's bench from the 2005-2006 season, then you either have a photographic memory or are in desperate, desperate need of finding a hobby. 

Another forgettable, little used bench player during the first LeBron era in Cleveland. 

The Cleveland State product appeared in just five games as a Cavalier before earning a demotion to the D-League. These days, Jackson hoops it up in the Puerto Rican leagues.

In four magnificent games with LeBron, the 7’3” Croation center scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Thus concludes the chapter of Bruno Sundov. 

The former Most Improved Player of the Year didn't have much left to give the Cavaliers when they signed him as a back-up big man in 2005. At that point, Henderson had already logged a decade in the league, and would only play for one more season beyond his stay in Cleveland, when he joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2006-2007 season. He was the 11th man on Cleveland's roster, appearing in 51 games but averaging just 2.5 PPG.

Wright played just 17 games for the Cavs in the last year of his NBA career. It wasn't exactly what you would call a memorable send-off.

One more name from LeBron’s very first Cavs team that you probably don't recognize.  Stewart would play just eight games for the wine and gold. 

Scot Pollard was an end of the bench big man who rarely played for a 2006-2007 Cavs teams that somehow reached the NBA Finals. He's probably most known for his wild hair and telling kids to "do drugs."

The pride of Michigan State had an extremely brief, four-game stint with the Cavaliers during LeBron’s rookie year. After trading away Andre Miller the year before, the Cavs acquired Cleaves, who was playing in the D-League, in March of 2004. He was released four games later. 

In two years alongside LeBron, Jones never played more than 8.5 minutes per game.

Another guy who played with LeBron during the 2003-2004 season, and another forgettable name. In 16 minutes off the bench, Brown averaged just 5.3 points per game, and would be out of the league two years later. 

Perkins joined the Cavs midway through the season after he was released by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He doesn't have much left in the tank, and aside from setting a hilariously illegal pick on the Boston Celtics' Jae Crowder in the playoffs, has remained largely glued to the bench as a cheerleader. 

Signed as a backup point guard early in the 2014-2015 campaign, Price never played well enough to warrant a spot on the Cavs roster for rest of the season. In 11 games, he averaged just two points. 

Devin Brown started 20 games for the Cavs during the 2007-2008 regular season, which is depressing to think about. 

David Wesley played 10 minutes off the bench for the Cavs in 2006-2007, and owns the prestigious honor of the worst lay-up attempt in the history of the NBA. 

Drafted by the Cavs in 2006, Shannon Brown didn't see a whole lot of playing time as a rookie. He averaged 7 points per game in year two before being traded to the Chicago Bulls after 15 games. 

Haywood was brought in as a big body to use only in emergencies, and that's how he's remained. 

Jiří Welsch was a bust from the 2002 Draft who hopped around the league for three seasons before, somehow, being traded to the Cavaliers for a first-round draft pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. When Cleveland acquired him in 2004, Welsch had never averaged more than 10 PPG or shot higher than 43 percent from the field in a single season. The decision to give up a first-round pick for a player like that is head-scratching.

The pick eventually ended up in the hands of the Phoenix Suns, who used it to draft Rudy Fernandez. However, by trading away the slot, the Cavaliers missed out on the opportunity to select another talented Spaniard who was still on the board at the time: Marc Gasol.  

A highly touted prospect out of Oak Hill Academy, Desagna Diop was taken 8th overall by the Cavs in 2001.  He played two season with James, and was generally terrible for both of them. The seven-footer never averaged more than four rebounds per game in his time with James, and barely got off the bench. He was horribly uncoordinated, and had one of the worst jumpers known to man. 

Nailon played for three different teams during the 2003-2004 NBA season, spending 22 games as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers after signing two, 10-day contracts. 

Shawn Marion announced he'd be retiring at the end of the 2014-2015 NBA season, and has largely remained on the bench after getting minutes early on in the season. 

Undrafted out of Oklahoma State, Stephen Graham joined the Cavaliers after he signed a 10-day contract with the team in February of 2006. Though he managed to stay with the team for the remainder of the season, it wasn't long before Graham was on to his next team, having averaged just 2.8 PPG and 1.3 RPG in 13 games for Cleveland. 

Darnell Jackson averaged two points a game off the bench for the Cavs. 

Somehow, someway, Ira Newble managed to play alongside LeBron James for five consecutive seasons despite never averaging more than six points per game or really doing anything well. Even weirder is that LeBron, searching for a way to improve his 3-point shooting early in his career, began to mimick Newble’s form, in which Newble turned both of his toes inward. LeBron James, taking shooting advice from Ira Newble. Wut. 

In a long line of terrible point guards to play with LeBron, Kevin Ollie was the first. Joining the Cavs during LeBron’s rookie year, Ollie averaged a measly 4.2 points while shooting 37 percent from the field in 17 minutes off the bench. He was gone the next year. 

J.R. Bremer, a Cleveland native, played just two seasons in the NBA.  He spent half of his second year in Cleveland with LeBron when The King was a rookie, coming off the bench to average a paltry 3.5 points per game. The most memorable thing about Bremer is that he shot left-handed. 

Say this for Lucious Harris: The man made a much longer career than anyone would expect out of a second-round draft pick, playing 13 seasons for four different teams during his time in the league. However, aside from some occasional flashes of brilliance, Harris was never a star, and he certainly didn't transform into one during his final season in the NBA, when he was playing for Cleveland. 

When the Cavs drafted Luke Jackson out of Oregon in the 2004 NBA draft, he was hailed as a lethal 3-point shooter that would space the floor for LeBron. He shot 66 percent from deep in his rookie year, though that stat is skewed since he took less than one per game while playing only 4 minutes per game. It got worse in year two, as Jackson shot an atrocious 33 percent from deep, and could never play well enough in other areas to earn any more time on the court. He would be traded to Toronto and will forever go down as one of the Cavs biggest swings and misses in the NBA draft.

After coming over in the same trade that brought the Cavs Antawn Jamison, the former high school prodigy appeared in just four games for the Cavs before being traded to Minnesota a few months later. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the last stop in Robert "Tractor" Traylor's disappointing NBA career. The former Michigan Wolverine was sidelined by weight and then heart issues for much of his seven-year stay in the league. After leaving the Cavs in 2005, Traylor was administered surgery on his aorta. He never played pro ball in the States again. 

He's a complete unknown. A rookie out of Virginia, there haven't been any minutes to spare for Harris as the Cavs chase a championship. 

Kapono is known as that other draft pick the Cavs took in 2003, and would spend just one season alongside LeBron. He got sparse minutes off the bench, though it abundantly clear he could shoot the 3, hitting 47 percent of his attempts from downtown. 

Miller, like James Jones, came to Cleveland with the hopes that he'd be able to add a veteran presence and some 3-point shooting to space the floor. The former has happened, the latter never really came to fruition. Hobbled and unable to knock down his patented 3, Miller hasn't seen much playing time in a Cavaliers uniform. 

The Cavs drafted the man who would eventually become a 3-point sniper for the San Antonio Spurs back in 2009, but never really had the minutes, or the patience, to help him develop. Green appeared in just 20 games as a rookie, and when he did pull up for 3, he usually missed, going just 6-22 on the year. He was eventually cut by the Cavs. 

A fellow Cleveland native, Williams came off the bench and chipped in two to four points per game during his three season stint as a Cav. 

The middling big man would play just 22 games with LeBron before he was shipped off to Boston, along with Ricky Davis, for the rest of the 2003-2004 NBA season. 

Battie would play alongside LeBron during The King’s rookie season, averaging just under 20 minutes a game while scoring 5.4 points. He was already in his eighth year when he joined the Cavs, and was just another body on a bad Cavaliers team. 

Leon Powe never displayed the skill set he provided during his time in Boston after signing with the Cavs in 2009. He averaged just four points and three rebounds per game, down from his 7.7/5 line the previous season. 

Brought over in a trade from Boston during LeBron’s rookie season, Williams was meant to be a veteran presence to steer Cleveland's budding superstar down the right path. Williams was on the back nine of his career, but he still managed to score almost 10 points a game during his time in Cleveland. He also sort of looks like an alien, which is dope. 

Dajuan Wagner might be the saddest of LeBron’s teammates, in terms of untapped potential. After once scoring 100 points in a high school game, Wagner played for John Calipari at Memphis for one year before jumping to the NBA as a guy that was supposed to be the next league superstar. It never happened. Wagner averaged just 6.5 points per game playing with James during the 2003-2004 season, and played in only 11 games the following season after he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. 

Darius was another member of the rag tag cast of characters that made up the Cavs during LeBron’s rookie season. The much-hyped prospect who jumped to the NBA directly out of high school averaged just 8.9 points per game that year, and would become known more for his “headstrong” celebrations than his actual play. And who will ever forget his Oscar-worthy performance in The Perfect Score?

If you think Matthew Dellavedova is a miracle, consider the fact that the Cavaliers once let Eric Snow run the point for their team. He even started! Snow played four seasons in Cleveland and failed to average more than five points and five assists per game the entire way through. Kyrie Irving is a living, breathing manifestation of God compared to Eric Snow. 

Meant to be a spark plug off the bench, Jamario Moon caught some pretty impressive alley-oops...and that was about it. He contributed under five points a game, and though he has one of the best basketball names of all time, his tenure in Cleveland was forgettable, to say the least. 

Joe Smith spent two separate stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, each time providing productive minutes off the bench. He had a nice little 15-foot jump shot that he could always knock down in space.  

The Cavs badly needed a point guard during LeBron’s rookie season, so they dealt Darius Miles to Portland to acquire Jeff McInnis to come hold down the fort. McInnis was somewhat controversial, having a reputation around the league as a “me-first” guy. McInnis added some instant offense upon arriving in Cleveland, but soon wore out his welcome and would consistently get benched for Eric Snow. 

In 28 games with the Cavs, the man they call Flip contirbuted 13.5 points per game after coming over in a trade from Seattle. 

The shot-happy shooting guard's days were numbered as soon as LeBron announced he was heading back to Cleveland. Waiters' time in C-Town can be summed up by a couple Vine videos showing the former Syracuse Orangeman calling for the ball from LeBron, then moping when the pass he so desperately wanted never came. Waiters had some dog in him, showcasing the occasional aggressive drive to the rim, but most of the time he'd just take fadeaway jumpers from just inside the 3-point line. He was traded to Oklahoma City near the NBA trade deadline. 

He tagged along with LeBron to try and win another championship, and has been surprisingly serviceable for a guy who's coming to the end of his career. He can still shoot 3's with the best of them, and his size still allows him to block the occasional shot and guard the stretch four. 

Once a ferocious rebounder and shot blocker in his heyday for the Detroit Pistons, the Cavs traded for Wallace when his best years were solidly in the rear view. Wallace, who once averaged 15 rebounds a game, averaged just over seven for the Cavs, while giving the team a couple of buckets per game. He never had enough left in the tank to become the defensive force the Cavs hoped they could squeeze out of him.  

Wally Szczerbiak spent the last two seasons of his career in Cleveland, hoping to add some extra shooting around LeBron as they chased a championship. He shot 41 percent from deep during the 2008-2009 campaign, but his less than ideal athleticism made him impossible to hide on defense. 

Damon Jones came to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005 in tandem with Donyell Marshall to provide LeBron with some much needed 3-point shooting. And while Jones had his moments (like hitting a dagger 3-pointer to knock the Washington Wizards out of the 2006 NBA Playoffs), he never became the consistent shooter the Cavs hoped he would be. 

Brought in along with Damon Jones to add some shooting around LeBron James in his early years as a Cav, Donyell Marshall was pleasantly mediocre. His 3-point percentage hovered just above 30 percent for the two and a half season he spent in Cleveland, and grabbed a rebound here and there. And that was about it. He also once checked in without a jersey on, so there's that. 

Sasha Pavlovic was nothing if not forgettable for the Cleveland Cavaliers. It always seemed like he had a lot of potential, it just never manifested itself on the basketball court. He could get to the rim, but he couldn't finish. He'd hit a big 3, then miss his next five. He do something like throw down a one-handed putback dunk, and then disappear quietly into the night. Pavlovic was an enigma...until we all realized maybe he just wasn't that good. 

The Cavs were looking for more 3-point shooting after falling to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009, so they brought in Anthony Parker for help. He delivered, sort of, shooting 41 percent from deep and averaging 7.2 points per game. It wouldn't help, as the Cavs fell to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2010 Eastern Conference Playoffs. 

When he was drafted by the Cavs in 2008, J.J. Hickson looked like he was being groomed to be the perfect young compliment to LeBron James. He could run the floor, had hops like crazy and a decent jump shot to boot. But the jumper never improved much, and Hickson's defense left a whole lot to be desired. His dunk on soon-to-be LeBron teammate Dwyane Wade will forever be legendary, though. 

It was the changing of the guard in Cleveland when LeBron James was drafted in 2003. Ricky Davis had been the face of the Cavs the year prior, but he knew his time in Cleveland was dwindling with the arrival of James. His fate was sealed when he shot at the wrong rim in a game against Utah in an attempt to secure a triple-double, forever earning him the nickname “Wrong Rim Ricky.”  He would be traded to Boston shortly after. The dude could throw down a dunk with the best of them, though. 

Brought in at the twilight of his career to help "win a ring for The King," one of the best centers in the game was a long ways from his glory days in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform. Still, the big man in the middle averaged 12 points and almost seven rebounds in his second-to-last season in the NBA. Shaq never did get LeBron that ring, missing 19 games in the regular season due to injury.  

Brought over at the trade deadline to try and push the Cavs over the top during the 2009-2010 NBA season, Jamison helped as much as he could. He gave the Cavs almost 16 points per game, but he shot under 50 percent from the field and an abysmal 34 percent from deep. Jamison's size helped draw larger defenders away from the rim, but he became a liability on defense and was unable to help James get the ring he so desperately wanted. 

The Cavs had been after Iman Shumpert for a while before finally getting him in a midseason trade with the New York Knicks. Shumpert's perimeter defense and quick hands have helped the Cavs morph into an elite defensive team in the 2015 playoffs, and his 3-point shooting ability, albeit streaky, can force defenders to think twice about double-teaming LeBron on a drive. Plus, he has the best hair in the NBA. 

Ever since the Cavs traded for J.R. Smith ahead of the 2015 trade deadline, they've gotten a rejuvinated player. Smith has showed flashes of his ability in separate stints in Denver and New York, even boasting a Sixth Man of the Year award, but things had hit rock bottom for the man they call Swish in the Big Apple when the Cavs came calling. 

Under LeBron's tutelage, Smith has been reborn. He's shooting 39 percent from deep, up 4 percent from what he was shooting in New York, and has increased his points per game by two. He's been a huge cog in the Cavs ability to space the floor, and has flashed the ability to pull up and hit a shot from just about anywhere. And aside from a punch and a couple dumb fouls in the playoffs, Smith has remained, for the most part, a good citizen for the Cavaliers. 

The Cavs went into the summer of 2005 looking for a legitimate sidekick for LeBron James, who had been devoid of a second scorer since he arrived in Cleveland in 2003. The Cavs set their sights on both Ray Allen and Michael Redd, both of whom declined to sign with the Cavs, opting to re-up with their current teams instead. All that was left was Larry Hughes, who was coming off a season with the Washington Wizards in which he averaged a career high 22 points per game.

Out of options and needing to make a move, the Cavs pounced. Hughes averaged respectable numbers during his two seasons in Cleveland (14.9 and 15.5 points per game, respectively), but never came close to that player he was in Washington. His numbers plummeted across the board, including his shooting percentage, which eventually fell to 40 percent by the 2006-2007 season. Hughes was also plagued by injuries, playing in just 36 games his first year with the Cavs and missing the NBA Finals the following season with a hand injury. 

Drew Gooden is a quintessential journeyman in the NBA: He's the guy who you've seen everywhere, and are certain is retired, but then you look him up Google and realize that he's still, somehow, in the league. However, before Gooden became as well-traveled as he is now, he played in Cleveland from 2004 until 2008. In his best year, he averaged 11.3 PPG and 8.3 RPG, producing a solid if unspectacular stat line for the Cavaliers, as they made their way to their first-ever Finals appearance. 

Fun fact: Carlos Boozer was actually drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002, a year before James got there. Boozer spent his sophomore season playing alongside James, averaging 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. It looked to be the start of a powerful inside-outside punch that would anchor the Cavs for years…until Boozer bolted for Utah the following season after reportedly verbally agreeing to sign a long term deal in Cleveland. You never lie to a blind man (the Cavs owner at the time was blind), and that karma has Boozer toiling away in Lakerland.

If we're being honest, Boobie Gibson lands in the top 10 mostly for his incredible 3-point barrage in Game 6 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals that help send the Cavs to their first NBA Finals ever. Gibson dropped 36 points that night, and the next morning there were t-shirts with the phrase "Shoot Boobie Shoot!" written across them all over Cleveland. He shot under 40 percent from deep just once during his four season stint with the Cavs, and was always a decent contributor off the bench. Boobie will live forever. 

Yeah, this surprised us, too. 

Dellavedova would have been close to dead last on this list before April. Then the NBA playoffs began, and he morphed into the best thing out of Australia since videos of kangaroos kicking people in the face. For stretches, he has taken Stephen Curry completely out his offensive rhythm in the NBA Finals. He riled opponents up to the point where they were ejected from the game. He dove on the ground for loose balls like it’s a Slip-N-Slide. If the Cavs pull off the improbable and hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the year, Delly will go down in sports lore.

The man once known for having Blake Griffin’s genitals placed in his face has become the anchor of the Cavaliers tenacious defense after being traded to Cleveland midway through the 2014-2015 NBA season. There are even reports that LeBron was pretty down about the makeup of the Cavs until he saw Mozgov in person. And though Mozgov can come down with the occasional case of butterfingers when he receives the ball beneath the rim, he’s provided the Cavs with a low post presence and the physicality the team was missing. 

Adding LeBron James to your roster can alleviate a lot of weaknesses. Before James, Tristan Thompson was an offensively-challenged big man who had a tendency to get his shot blocked at the rim. With James, Thompson is the recipient of copious amounts of alley-oops, and with the ability to solely focus on his defense and rebounding, has become a terror on the boards. He’s ravaged the paint on his way to becoming one of, if not the best offensive rebounder in the NBA. His offense still isn’t there, but he won’t need it playing alongside James. 

Varejao is LeBron’s longest tenured teammate, having landed in Cleveland just one year after LeBron was drafted by the franchise in 2003. He endeared himself to both LeBron and the Cavalier faithful with his hustle and enormous hair, and to this day may be the best pick and roll partner LeBron has ever had. His jumper has always been spotty, and he seems to be injured more than he’s healthy, but Varejao has been the one constant during both of LeBron’s stints in a Cavaliers uniform. 

Love caught a lot of flack as the third wheel alongside LeBron and Kyrie Irving, but he still put up numbers other teams would die for from a third option. He averaged 16 points and 9.7 rebounds in his first year as a Cavalier. Impressive when you consider he was often the forgotten man on offense, less so when you consider how offensive his defense was at times. Still, he seemed to be figuring things out before Kelly Olynyk yanked his arm out of his socket in the first round of the playoffs. And, you know, he’s still Kevin Love.

Joining LeBron during the 2008-2009 NBA season, Mo Williams slotted in nicely as a 3-point threat to LeBron’s drive and kick game. He bombed away at a 43 percent clip from deep that season while supplementing LeBron’s scoring with 18 points per game of his own. He even made the All-Star team that season due to injuries to players ahead of him. Williams’ production dropped off severely in the two postseason runs he made with LeBron, but that doesn't change the fact that he was the best second banana LeBron ever had during his first stint in Cleveland.  

Don’t get it twisted. While his accomplishments in Cleveland can get overshadowed by his battles with his mental health and trouble with the law, West was a major part of a Cavs teams that won 66 games during the 2008-2009 season. He was a 40 percent shooter from deep that year, had a deadly step-back jumper and was an above average defender out on the wing. He played what arguably the best basketball of his career in Cleveland. Plus, we’ll always have this. 

One of the most iconic images of LeBron’s first go-round with the Cavaliers is the photo of LeBron embracing Zydrunas Ilgauskas after the Cabs knocked off the Detroit Pistons to go to the NBA Finals in 2007. James has long spoken of his fondness for the one they call Z, even attending his jersey retirement ceremony in Cleveland when things were still a bit icy between himself and the organization.

Though perpetually slow of foot, Z’s jump shot from 15 feet out was almost always money, and his ability tip missed shots back in to the hoop on the offensive end was invaluable. His best season with LeBron came in the 2004-2005 campaign, when he averaged 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game to go along with 2.1 blocks. 

We got a glimpse of what the potential partnership between Kyrie Irving and LeBron James could look like during the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, and it became a reality in 2015. With LeBron as his running mate, Irving has blossomed into a superstar, with his greatness coming to a crescendo in his 57-point performance on the road in a win against San Antonio.

Injuries have kept him from fully participating in the Cavs playoff run, but from his ridiculous handles to his silky smooth jump shot, there is no doubt Irving is the most talented Cav The King has ever played with.