The

1997–98 NBA season The 1997–98 NBA season was the 52nd season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls winning their third straight championship and sixth in the last eight years, beating the Utah Jazz 4 games to 2 in the 19 ...

was the 28th season of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. In the off-season, the Cavaliers acquired All-Star forward

Shawn Kemp Shawn may refer to: *Shawn (given name) *Shawn (surname) See also * Sean * Shaun Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne. Notable persons with the given name include: Peop ...

from the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

in a three-team trade, acquired

Wesley Person Wesley Lavon Person (born March 28, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After his playing career, Person became a women's basketball assistant coach and then the he ...

from the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

in another three-team trade, and signed free agent

Mitchell Butler Mitchell Leon Butler (born December 15, 1970) is an American sports agent and former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 to 2004. The 6' 5" (1.96 m) shooting guard signed NBA Draft, un ...

. The Cavaliers struggled with a 4–6 start to the season, as

Bob Sura Robert Sura Jr. (born March 25, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons for five different teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At , , he played as a shooting guard and point guard. Earl ...

went down with an ankle injury and only played just 46 games, and Butler was out for the remainder of the season with a neck injury after 18 games. However, the team posted a ten-game winning streak between November and December, and later on held a 27–20 record at the All-Star break. The Cavaliers played above .500 for the remainder of the season finishing 5th in the Central Division with a 47–35 record, qualifying for the playoffs after a one-year absence. The Cavaliers had the best team defensive rating in the NBA. Kemp averaged 18.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, and was selected for the

1998 NBA All-Star Game The 1998 NBA All-Star Game was the 48th edition of the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game. The event was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The East won the game 135–114. Besides the NBA All-Star game, there were t ...

, which would be his sixth and final All-Star appearance, while Person averaged 14.7 points and 1.6 steals per game, and also led the league with 192 three-point field goals. In addition, last year's first round draft pick

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Zydrunas Ilgauskas ( lt, link=no, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas; ; born June 5, 1975) is a Lithuanian-born American former professional basketball player who played the center position. The 7'3" Ilgauskas played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Nationa ...

from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, who missed the previous season with a foot injury, averaged 13.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and won the MVP award in the Rookie Game during the All-Star Weekend in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, while first round draft pick

Brevin Knight Brevin Adon Knight (born November 8, 1975) is an American former professional basketball point guard who played with nine teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2009. Knight played college basketball at Stanford Universi ...

provided the team with 9.0 points, 8.2 assists, and led the league with 196 total steals, averaging 2.5 per game. Top draft pick Derek Anderson contributed 11.7 points and 1.3 steals per game off the bench, playing 66 games due to a knee injury, while second round draft pick Cedric Henderson provided with 10.1 points per game, and second-year center

Vitaly Potapenko Vitaly Nikolaevich Potapenko ( uk, Віталій Миколайович Потапенко, pronounced ''vee-TAH-lee poe-TAH-pen-koe'', born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach ...

averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game off the bench. Both Ilgauskas and Knight were selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, while Anderson and Henderson both made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, and head coach

Mike Fratello Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an analyst for Fox Sports Ohio for the Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Fox Sports West f ...

finished in third place in

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

voting. However, the Cavaliers would lose in four games in the Eastern Conference First Round of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

, and they would not make it back to the postseason until

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. For the season, the team slightly redesigned their uniforms, which remained in use until 1999. As of 2022, this is the last time the Cavaliers made the playoffs without

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

Offseason

Free Agents

Trades

Draft picks

^*1st round pick acquired from

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in three-way Antonio McDyess deal.SUNS: Suns Rise Again in West
/ref>

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z - clinched division title :y - clinched division title :x - clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

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Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 23 , @

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

L 77–106
,

(25) ,

(13) ,

(5) ,

Market Square Arena Market Square Arena was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of large cu ...

16,644 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 25 , @

L 86–92
,

(27) ,

(10) ,

(7) ,

16,617 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , April 27 ,

W 86–77
,

(31) ,

Kemp Kemp may refer to: Places * Kemp, Illinois * Kemp, Ohio * Kemp, Oklahoma * Kemp, Texas * Kemp Land and Kemp Coast, Antarctica * Kemp Town, a 19th-century estate in East Sussex, England * Kemps Corner, place in India People * Kemp (surname) * Ke ...

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

(7) , three players tied (5) , Gund Arena
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L 74–80
,

(21) ,

(12) ,

(6) , Gund Arena
18,188 , 1–3 , -

Player stats

Regular season

Playoffs

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and records

Awards

, NBA All-Rookie First Team *

, NBA All-Rookie First Team * Derek Anderson, NBA All-Rookie Second Team * Cedric Henderson, NBA All-Rookie Second Team

Records

Milestones

All-Star

Transactions

Trades

Free Agents

Development League

References

Cleveland Cavaliers on Database Basketball

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Cleveland Cavaliers Season Cleveland Cavaliers seasons Cleve Cleve