The NBA has seen several rivalries over the years. In days of old, Magic Johnson's Lakers squared off against Larry Bird and the Celtics. In later years, Michael Jordan and the Bulls were pitted against Isiah Thomas and his “Bad Boy” Pistons. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, however, the term “rivalry” is a bit fresh.

The Cavs came to be in 1970, when the NBA granted the city of Cleveland an expansion team under the direction of an entrepreneur named Nick Meleti. It wasn't until the late 80's that the team developed any sort of rival.

5: 89′ Cavaliers-Bulls

Though the Cavs had a roster consisting of great players like Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Steve Kerr and Ron Harper, they were unable to get past Michael Jordan's Bulls in the second round of the 1989 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Notably, Cleveland defeated Chicago in each of their regular season matchups during that campaign. When it came to the postseason, though, Jordan was known to grab another gear — and he did.

In what became known as “The Shot,” His Airness eliminated the Cavs with a last second buzzer-beater over Craig Ehlo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5WUOnTxwPw

4: 2010 Cavaliers-Bulls

That's right… the Cavs had multiple rivalries with the Bulls, though they came in different eras.

In 2010, LeBron James was playing in the last year of his rookie contract. With a lesser-known group of teammates, the Akron native led Cleveland to an Eastern Conference-best 61-21 overall record, which was good for a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Bulls, on the other hand, finished with a 41-41 record, earning a No. 8 seed in the East. As a result, the two teams were slated to meet in the first round.

With Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, Chicago was clearly a solid squad. Ultimately, though, Cleveland would go on to claim its first playoff series win over Chicago, 4-1.

In a convincing 121-98 Game 4 win, James racked up an impressive triple-double, scoring 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Antawn Jamison — a name that Cavs fans haven't heard for a while — led Cleveland with 25 points in a series-clinching Game 5 victory.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers fell to the Celtics in the second round, 4-2. More on their rivalry later…

3: Cavaliers-Pistons

The Cavs and Pistons played three playoff series' between 2006 and 2009. The rivalry that grew between the two teams in that span is not as well-known as others, but Cleveland fans will remember their battles.

In 2006, LeBron led the Cavs to a 50-32 record, which resulted in his first playoff appearance. Conversely, the Pistons were fresh off a league-leading 64-win regular season and were riding the wave of back-to-back Finals appearances.

Led by a host of talent in Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace, the Pistons were a force to be reckoned with.

Though they were overmatched, the Cavs managed to take a 3-2 lead in the series. However, Cleveland was unable to close it out, eventually losing Game 7 in Detroit.

LeBron and the Cavs would face the Pistons again in the following postseason. Detroit was the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, while Cleveland came in at the No. 2 spot. The two sides eventually met in the Eastern Conference Finals.

With the series tied at two games apiece, James put on a performance for the ages. The former No. 1 overall pick scored 29 of the Cavs' final 30 points in a 98-82 victory. With the win, Cleveland was off to its first Finals appearance in franchise history, though they were ultimately swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

Cleveland and Detroit met once again in the 2009 postseason. This time, the No. 1 seeded Cavs swept the 8th-seeded Pistons, who had traded away both Billups and Ben Wallace.

2: Cavaliers-Celtics

The Celtics were another Eastern Conference power that the Cavs had to deal with during both of LeBron's stints with the team, but their rivalry wouldn't truly develop until the 2008 conference semifinals.

Cleveland defeated the Washington Wizards in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, while Boston had narrowly escaped an Atlanta Hawks upset. In Game 1, Celtics big man Kevin Garnett knocked down a go-ahead shot with time expiring. In Game 4, fans witnessed James' dunk over Garnett “with no regard for human life.”

Ultimately, the series would go to seven games. It was LeBron James and Paul Pierce pitted against one another in heated battle. Though he finished Game 7 with 45 points, James and the Cavs fell to the Celtics, who went on to become the 2008 NBA champions.

“It comes from a tough, seven-game series,” James said of the Cavs' rivalry with the Celtics, via Bleacher Report. “It comes from them wanting to be really great, them winning a championship, us wanting to win a championship. It comes from us knowing that we have to go through them and them knowing that they have to go through us.”

Boston defeated Cleveland again in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals, 4-2. When the final horn blew, James tore off his Cavs jersey as he made his way into the locker room. Many thought this would be the last time he would wear Wine and Gold — and for a while, it was.

James would lead the Cavs to three playoff series victories over the Celtics after announcing his return to Cleveland (2015, 2016 and 2018), two of which came in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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1: Cavaliers-Warriors

Though it only lived four years, the rivalry that sprouted between the Cavs and Warriors grew into one of the greatest of all-time. In fact, HoopsHabit ranked it as the fourth-best rivalry in NBA history.

James returned to the Cavs in 2014 after winning two championships in four seasons of service with the Miami Heat. Cleveland then traded Andrew Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star forward Kevin Love. As a result, the Cavs had their own variant of a “Big 3” in James, Love and Kyrie Irving.

This rivalry began to take hold in the 2014-15 season, and the two sides would go on to meet in the NBA Finals for the next four years. Prior to their run of postseason matchups, no two teams had faced each other in more than two consecutive NBA Finals.

With the “Splash Brothers” (Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson), the Warriors claimed their first Finals matchup against the Cavs (2015). Notably, though, Cleveland was without the services of Irving and Love for a portion of that series due to injuries. In 2016, however, the Cavaliers managed to climb from the depths of a 3-1 deficit to win their first championship in franchise history, ending a 52-year drought for the city of Cleveland. To this day, no other team in NBA history has recovered after trailing 3-1 in the Finals.

Following the 2016 campaign, the Warriors announced that they had acquired Kevin Durant. Some, including NBA legend Charles Barkley, thought this was a shady move. For reference, Golden State had just won a record 73 games in the regular season and were already viewed as an all-time great team. With “The Durantula” aboard, Golden State went on to claim championships in 2017 and 2018 against the Cavs.

Taking a deeper look, players from both teams seemed to relish this rivalry:

Simply put, it was a magical era for both teams. However, this all-time great rivalry died off after LeBron James decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers in July of 2018.