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- Rival scout on Donovan Mitchell playing for Cavs in playoffs: ‘We’ll see if he’s that guy or not’
- Report: Jarrett Allen still dealing with blurriness in injured eye
- Nic Claxton offers overly confident statement when asked about potential playoff matchup vs. Cavs
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Cavs 2017 team had tons of ‘internal issues’ according to former teammate
- Updated: May 7, 2021
The Cleveland Cavaliers took home the NBA championship in 2016, and it wasn’t long after that major issues began to appear.
One former NBA player who got a firsthand look at the issues was former big man Larry Sanders. Sanders played just five games with the Cavs during the 2016-17 season, but he still remembers the issues he witnessed.
“The team had so many issues,” Sanders explained. “There were a lot of internal issues. We didn’t know if LeBron [James] and Kyrie Irving were leaving. They had the scuffle on the bench between LeBron and Tristan Thompson. There was a lot of stuff going on internally.
“I remember being in the midst of it and I’m like the seventh, eighth or ninth project they have. I don’t think they knew what to do with anybody.”
It can be argued that James and Irving made up the most talented superstar duo in Cavs history. Unfortunately, that duo didn’t last for long.
In the summer of 2017, Irving requested a trade and was promptly moved to the Boston Celtics.
The next summer, James moved on to the Los Angeles Lakers.
While Sanders may remember the issues that he witnessed during his short stint with the Cavs, fans of the team surely remember the good times that that era of Cavs basketball brought to the city of Cleveland.
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