Who has the all-time longest winning streak in the NBA as Cavs remain undefeated

The Cleveland Cavaliers continued the best start in franchise history with its 12th victory in their opening 12 games, and as was the case in the recent game against Brooklyn on Saturday, the Cavaliers trailed by nine points in the third quarter but dug deep in the final stretch of the game against Chicago to keep the team’s unbeaten status intact.

Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 36 points and Evan Mobley had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds as Kenny Atkinson’s team ran out 119-113 winners against the Bulls on Monday.

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Best NBA season starts

Only five teams have delivered better starts to an NBA season with the Golden State Warriors going 24-0 in the 2015-2016 season followed by 15-0 for both the Houston Rockets (1993-1994) and the Washington Capitols in 1948-1949. Dallas Mavericks went 14-0 in 2002-2003 with the Boston Celtics doing the same in 1957-1958.

The current Cleveland team draw level with two other teams who started with a 12-0: Chicago Bulls (1996-1997) and Seattle Supersonics (1982-1983).

Of those teams, two won the NBA title (Houston and Chicago), three reached the Finals (Golden State, Washington and Boston), one reached the conference finals (Dallas) and one fell in the first round of the playoffs (Seattle).

NBA all-time winning streaks

Despite an electric start to the new season, Cavs fans will need to be patient as the all-time unbeaten streak is some way off with that particular accolade belonging to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers championship-winning team who went 33 games in a row before having their winning run broken by Milwaukee Bucks. More recently, Miami Heat went 27 games undefeated in the 2012-13 season.

The 15-16 Warriors team with their 24 unbeaten games sit in third place on the all-time winning streak podium with the Cavs next in action against the Philadelphia 76ers (2-7) before commencing the 2024 NBA Cup.