The 2005–06 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 36th season of NBA basketball in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers finished the season with a 50–32 record, and a second-place finish in the Central Division, returning to the playoffs for the first time since 1998. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards in six games in the first round and reached the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference where they lost in seven games to the Detroit Pistons. LeBron James was the team's leading scorer and was named to the All-NBA first team. He was also selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game where he won his first All-Star MVP. For this season, they added new dark blue road alternate uniforms added side panels to their jerseys and shorts, they remained in use until 2010.

Offseason

Free agents

Trades

Draft picks

Cleveland did not have a draft pick in the 2005 NBA Draft due to trades from previous seasons.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

20,562 18,797 17,368 18,281 19,564 16,554 15,414 17,685 18,591 18,908 17,139 17,243 20,562 18,209 17,072 18,369 17,317 18,177 18,717 17,114 17,182 20,562 19,543 21,874 18,757 20,562 20,098 20,562 15,785 18,019 19,840 18,064 18,997 18,422 19,383 19,009 20,205 19,340 19,069 16,089 18,345 20,562 17,142 19,460 20,168 20,562 19,126 17,093 20,173 20,562 19,486 17,915 20,562 20,196 20,562 22,076 19,286 17,363 20,726 20,562 18,077 19,800 17,283 20,268 20,425 20,562 20,562 18,550 20,562 16,839 19,401 20,562 18,491 18,581 19,763 19,048 19,187 22,076 20,562 18,405 18,624 20,562

Player stats

Regular Season Playoffs

Playoffs

2006 marked the first time LeBron James made the playoffs in his career, and the first time the Cavaliers had made the playoffs since 1998 with Shawn Kemp. They came off a playoff series win vs the Wizards, while the Pistons came in off a 4–1 win vs the 8th seeded Bucks. Detroit was expected to win the series, and took a commanding two games to none lead with two wins at the Palace of Auburn Hills. James and the Cavaliers would not be intimidated however, and won their two games at home to tie the series 2–2. Coming into game 5, both teams were confident, but the Pistons were expected to pull out the win easily. The game was low scoring throughout as usual in this series, with Cleveland holding a 68 to 66 lead throughout 3 quarters. With the game tied at 84 with 26 seconds left in regulation, Drew Gooden came through and hit a layup to give Cleveland the lead that they would never squander. James led the Cavs with 32 and this brought the series to Cleveland up 3–2, quite shockingly. Detroit held on to a 2-point win to win game 6, and won game 7 at home to seal the deal, but this was the coming out party for the Cavaliers in the playoffs, scaring the 2004 champs.

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Milestones

All-Star

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

**Signed to two successive 10-day contracts and then the remainder of the season. ***Traded for and then immediately waived before playing in a game.

Development League