Daniel Gibson cried when Cavaliers won NBA title in 2016

Daniel Gibson had an odd career in Cleveland. He was a second-round pick in 2006 that nobody ever expected to be much of a contributor for a team with Eastern Conference championship dreams.

Then all of the sudden, he was, scoring 31 points to help the Cavaliers finish the Detroit Pistons off in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s truly one of the more inexplicable bursts in Playoff history, given that Gibson played less than 400 games in his career and never averaged more than 12 points per game in a season.

Unfortunately, Gibson’s career that was spent entirely with the Cavaliers was ultimately derailed by injuries. He was a fringe NBA player at his best, and his margin for error just wasn’t there once his game dropped off.

Gibson, now an aspiring musician, sat down with the Undefeated to discuss his old career and his new one.

It turns out, he still feels a strong connection with Cleveland, and was overcome by emotion when the Cavaliers won the title in 2016.

I cried, man. I get invested, man. I only played for the Cavaliers. They love me to death every time I go there now. They roll out the red carpet. I don’t have to pay for nothing. The first year they went to the Finals and LeBron went to the Finals, that was my rookie year. To go through what we went through, losing 25 games in a row and they were still packing it out. … Man, when they won, I was sitting on the couch. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I got me [a title] too. If we don’t lose, they don’t get Kyrie, if we didn’t stink it up like we did. I was a part of that.

It’s nice to see that Gibson still feels connected to the Cavaliers community despite his (relatively) short time with the team. He was part of a big moment for the Cavs fanbase, and is treated with appropriate reverence.

No, Gibson wasn’t a star, or even a starting quality player. But he still mattered for the Cavaliers and their fans. It’s nice to see that feeling is reciprocated.