- Profile of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will play the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 NBA Finals. * NBA titles: None * The franchise joined the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Braves and Portland Trail Blazers. * The NBA instituted what is commonly known as the "Stepien Rule," due to Ted Stepien's propensity for trading away high draft picks during a disastrous three-year tenure as owner of the Cavaliers in the early 1980s * Cavaliers are the team that were on the wrong end of "The Shot," the name of a wildly famous series-winning basket hit by Michael Jordan in the 1989 Eastern Conference quarter-finals that is one of the most replayed NBA plays in history.