Last time Cavaliers won NBA championship: Complete finals, playoff history for Cleveland
Last time Cavaliers won NBA championship: Complete finals, playoff history for Cleveland originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . While it took two separate tenures with the Cleveland Cavaliers , LeBron James finally delivered on his promise as "The Kid from Akron" to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland in 2016.
Outside of that lone championship, however, the Cavaliers' trophy cabinet is relatively empty. In 2026, the team finally returned to its first Eastern Conference Finals since 2018 after a seven-game series against the No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons .
Outside of the James era, this became the team's first Conference Finals appearance since 1992. In franchise history, the Cavaliers have made the playoffs in just under 50% of their seasons. Despite eleven of the team's playoff runs ending in the first round historically, the team is still on the chase for its second trophy.
Here is the latest playoff history for Cleveland as of May 2026. MORE: Revisiting LeBron James' departure from Cleveland in 2010 Have the Cavaliers won an NBA championship? The Cavaliers have won one championship, which came in 2016.
Despite making four-straight NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, Cleveland was only able to walk away with a singular Larry O'Brien trophy. Outside of James' tenure with the team, the Cavaliers have previously and are yet to return to the grand stage of the NBA Playoffs as of May 2026. Across their franchise history, Cleveland has won five of their eight Eastern Conference Finals appearances.