While the Cleveland Cavaliers had plenty of postseason appearances throughout the history, they never reached the NBA Finals until after they drafted LeBron James first overall in 2003.
While he is clearly the most impactful draft choice by Cleveland, he also isn't the only one that played an important role for the Cavaliers. Here are their 10 best draft choices since 1990.
As a subjective list, the players on the list and the order in which they are placed can be debated. In order to make the list, the player must have actually been drafted by the team. Only impact while with the Cavaliers is considered (Danny Green barely played for the Cavaliers before becoming a starting player on a championship Spurs team). This also isn't exactly a top-10 players drafted by Cleveland since 1990 list since where they were selected makes a difference (if a 28th overall pick has about as much impact as a 4th overall pick, the 28th pick will be higher). Someone like Collin Sexton will likely find his way on this list after a couple more strong seasons.
All Cavaliers' draft picks were found at Basketball Reference.
LeBron James - 1st round, 1st overall (2003)
In 11 seasons spanning two different stints with Cleveland, James won an NBA title (made five NBA Finals), won two MVPs, made the All-NBA First Team eight times, and averaged 27.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 7.3 assists.
Kyrie Irving - 1st round, 1st overall (2011)
An All-Star in four of his six years with Cleveland, Irving was a member of the 2016 championship team, won Rookie of the Year, and averaged at least 18.5 points each season.