For the Cleveland Cavaliers, life without LeBron James remains bleak.
Cleveland won the lottery of lotteries when they landed the No. 1 overall selection in the 2003 NBA Draft.
With that pick, the Cavaliers took James, the high school phenom from nearby Akron, Ohio.
And although James took a four-year detour to Miami, he eventually led Cleveland to the franchise’s lone NBA championship.
During his 11 seasons with the Cavaliers, James made 10 All-Star berths and led the team to the playoffs nine times.
He took part in only one losing season, his rookie campaign.
James propelled Cleveland to the top of the Eastern Conference, earning the top seed six times and winning five conference titles.
But in the years without James on the roster, the Cavaliers continue to toil in mediocrity.
Crazy Coincidences Without The King
Cavs' worst season with LeBron James: 35-47
Cavs' best season without LeBron James: 33-49Where King James goes, success follows 💪 pic.twitter.com/JItTf2S1V3
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 4, 2020
The first time James decamped from Cleveland, the franchise bottomed out.
The Cavaliers posted a 19-63 record in 2010-11, tied for the third-lowest win total in franchise history.
Ironically, when James left Cleveland again in 2018, the Cavaliers followed with a 19-63 record that season.
What’s more, the second seasons without James in Cleveland were both shortened, albeit for different reasons.
In 2011-12, the NBA season shortened to 66 games because of a lockout.
During that campaign, the Cavaliers posted a 21-45 record.
In 2019-20, the league saw its season shortened to 65 games due to COVID-19, and during that year, Cleveland went 19-46.
Even the statistics for those seasons mirror one another.
Without James in 2010-11, the Cavaliers posted a minus-9.5 net rating, lowest in the league.
In 2018-19 without him, Cleveland again ranked 30th in net rating at minus-10.0.
Even when James played in Cleveland, the Cavaliers struggled mightily without him in the lineup.
The team posted a 10-16 record without him between 2003-2010, then went an abysmal 4-23 when he didn’t play between 2014-2018.
Cavaliers Continue To Rebuild
ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe took to Twitter recently, bashing the Cavaliers for their performance without James.
Cavs were garbage Bron’s years in Miami and now his 4 yrs in LA https://t.co/3w7Xq5Lcqq
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 12, 2021
The first time James moved away from Cleveland, the franchise found a rare run of lottery luck.
The Cavaliers landed the No. 1 pick in 2011 (Kyrie Irving), 2013 (Anthony Bennett), and 2014 (Andrew Wiggins).
This time around, Cleveland managed the No. 8 pick in 2018, the No. 5 picks in 2019 and 2020, and the No. 3 pick in 2021.
While Collin Sexton and Darius Garland make up an intriguing backcourt, the pair have yet to lead the Cavaliers to even 25 wins in a season.
Isaac Okoro still needs time to develop, but perhaps their biggest hope comes with their most recent first-round pick, Evan Mobley.
The 20-year-old big man provides Cleveland with a potential building block piece they haven’t had since drafting Irving first overall in 2011.
The Cavaliers need to hope their latest post-LeBron drafts don’t play out the way they did last time.
Although the team landed Irving and Tristan Thompson in 2011, Cleveland missed badly on drafts picks with Dion Waiters (No. 4 in 2012), Bennett (No. 1 in 2013), and Sergey Karasev (No. 19 in 2013).
The team flipped Wiggins (No. 1 in 2014) for Kevin Love, but are now saddled with the veteran and will likely be forced to buy him out of his contract.
NEXT: Trading Collin Sexton Makes Sense For Cleveland Cavaliers