Next week will be the start of the 2026/27 season for the Cavs as today we go over the number 8 and some of the 16 players to put it on, starting back in 1982 and the Ted Stepien Era.
This is the first known player to wear number 8 for the Cavs. Drafted in 1974, he arrived in Cleveland in 1981 after former team owner Ted Stepien threw what at the time was an unreasonable amount of money. A 5 year $1 million contract that his former team, the Kansas City Kings could not match.
He spent that season with the Cavs and then the next season traded him in a peak season when he was averaging almost 20 points a game to the Celtics.
This man was a menace on and off the court. Lonnie Shelton was not the most spectacular player for the Cavaliers, but he was in a few headlines in his time with the Cavs.
There is a famous instance that Dominique Wilkins has a story about his time on the Cavs where Shelton was a target of an armed robbery and successfully took down the robbers. That is crazy, but in 1985 there was also the "Valentines Day Brawl" against the Nets at Richfield Coliseum.
For the third time in my countdown Delly has made an appearance. Between 1986 and 2014 it was hard to find players to stick. In the mid-2000s the Cavs would have many players in the number 8 making short appearances trying to help out LeBron James.
It was not until his return home that somebody stuck in the number 8 and helped him out. Dellavedova is most famously known for the number 8, he switched after his rookie season and this was the jersey he was in for his famous performances against Stephen Curry in the Finals.
He was a lockdown defender and a problem for Curry to deal with. It famously upset him that he was getting all of this attention for "locking down" the unanimous MVP and every major sports outlet was covering him in stories.
182 games in the number 8 makes him the longest tenured Cavalier to wear the number.
Clarkson played a few seasons in Cleveland in the second post-LeBron era of the Cavs. He came off the bench for the Cavs and provided immediate offense for a struggling team averaging 16 points in 138 games without starting.
The new number 8 arrived in Cleveland this offseason to provide some extra defensive help for a Cavs team that really needs it. So far in the preseason he has been a big help with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden on the court and picking up whoever the offensive attackers are.
As of right now, he could be looking at a long career in Cleveland after signing that contract extension when he got there.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/cavaliers/onsi as Counting Down the Cavs: Breaking Down the Number 8 in Cleveland History .
