Cavs 2016 Championship team celebrate 10 years with wine, golf in Europe
· Yahoo Sports
From wine tasting in London to golfing on the greens of Scotland, several members of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016 championship team are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the historic feat with a European vacation. And you can trust that no expense was spared.
Fans got a peek into the lavishness of it all primarily via former Cavs forward Kevin Love's Instagram stories.
Visit biznow.biz for more information.
In London, Love was accompanied by former Cavs LeBron James, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye. They enjoyed wine tasting with a view of the Tower Bridge, an iconic London landmark, and yet another tasting at the Tower of London.
The second tasting seemed to have occurred June 14, as Love included a photo of a menu that showed the location and date: Dinner at the Tower of London, Sunday 14 June 2026.
View this post on Instagram
The dinner included dishes such as vine tomato tarte tatin, confit guinea fowl and apricot terrine and sous vide sirloin of surrey beef. The plates were paired with wines primarily from Domaine Dujac and Domaine Armand Rousseau, both premier red wine makers based in the Burgundy region of France.
As one can imagine, these aren't any old grocery store wines. And these are NBA champion budgets we're dealing with. Bottles from either of these houses can apparently run anywhere from $694 to more than $9,000. To get an idea, two particular ones on Sunday's menu — the Domaine Dujac Chambertin 2006 and Domaine Dujac Clos De La Roche Grand Cru 2002 — were $2,397 and $2,895, respectively, for the normal 750ml size bottle.
That's some pricey grape juice.
View this post on Instagram
Kevin Love shows off matching watches with LeBron James
Speaking of pricey items, Love shared a clip of he and James' matching gold timepieces. He tagged Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin and added three emojis "2️⃣2️⃣2️⃣".
The digits refer to the watch's model name, 222, which goes for a whopping $86,500. Before tax.
J.R. Smith joins Cavs reunion
It's not really a party until J.R. Smith arrives. The charismatic ex-Cavalier known for his unapologetic personality joined his former teammates in London for a golf outing.
Even though James has been working diligently at his game, Smith is probably the strongest golfer of the bunch. He famously qualified to be a part of the North Carolina A&T State University's collegiate team back in 2021 while he pursuing his liberal arts degree and was even named player of the year that season.
He recently graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a focus in African American Culture.
Men, their expensive watches and wine
After golfing, more watch shopping ensued with stops at Rolex (it looked like Thompson and James were contemplating a purchase) and Audemars Piguet's recently opened AP House London.
At AP House, James can be heard in the background saying, "It smells rich as hell in here."
Then they made time for yet another wine tasting. This one featured a pricey red from the Bordeaux region of France called Chateau Petrus Pomerol. The boys went for a 1982, and according to WineInvestment.com, the market price goes for an astounding $61,850. And they got at least two bottles.
Off to the Highlands
Next, it was wheels up and off to Scotland where more golf awaited. As well as another former Cavalier.
The gang was met by Richard Jefferson, the third needed to complete "The Triangle" of Frye and Love.
The group golfed at Castle Stuart Golf Links in the truly idyllic surroundings of the Cabot Highlands.
They ended the day with drinks and laughs around a fire outside the castle before dinner.
Where are they now?
Considering Love started posting the team's adventures June 16 with activities that occurred two days prior, who knows where the gang is now, but it's likely that more stops are to come.
More posts came in Wednesday showing the group starting their morning with champagne and cold plunges before taking breathtaking helicopter rides from where they were staying in the Cabot Highlands to Loch Lomond Golf Club.
Story viewers may have noticed some of the matching gear the former Cavs were wearing. Frye shared that Love provided each of the guys with a haul of items including engraved leather bags and toiletry kits and shorts, a pullover and a couple T-shirts with the Chosen Family logo on them. Chosen Family is the wine brand that Frye and Love launched in 2020.
Frye also shared that Love supplied the group with two sets of personalized Titleist golf balls, one that said 2016 NBA Champions with the Cavs logo around the Larry O'Brien trophy and another that showed the player's number, and a set of Always Believe Nike hats.
Lastly, he showed some sweet treats that each player was given in their London hotel rooms including jersey replica cookies and white chocolate screen prints of championship photos showing who all was on the trip.
In sharing that, it indicated that it was likely no other members of the championship team would be along for this trip. But that doesn't mean a larger reunion stateside is off the table.
Where was Kyrie Irving for the Cavs title 10th anniversary trip?
Probably the most notable key member of the championship team who wasn't on the trip was Kyrie Irving. In the comment section of @nbaonespn's post about the trip on Instagram, Smith wrote, "Missing none. He was invited and ghosted us all. So stop with that bs," after fans tagged him asking where Irving was.
A rift between Irving and the team seemed to form after he asked to be traded from Cleveland after falling to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 Finals. At the time, James said, "I don't think anybody in the organization saw this coming."
It was reported that Irving no longer wanted to play second fiddle to James and wanted the chance to play for a team where he would be the "focal point," according to NBA.com.
"I tried to give him everything, give him as much of my DNA as I could," James said during Cavs media day back in September 2017. "As I said throughout (last) season, at some point when he was ready to take over the keys, I was ready to give them to him."
Irving left to play two seasons with the Boston Celtics, five with the Brooklyn Nets and has been with the Dallas Mavericks since 2023. He reached the Finals again in 2024, but has dealt with injuries.
In an interview with I Am Athlete in 2019, he reflected on his decision to leave Cleveland.
"If I was in the same maturity line and understanding of who I am, and I look back, we definitely, definitely would’ve won more championships," Irving said. "Because there would’ve been a better man-to-man understanding about what I’m going through. I didn’t know how to share my emotions."
Will LeBron return to the Cavs?
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported just yesterday, June 16, that James is in talks with the Lakers to finalize a deal for a record-setting 24th season.
"I think it's LeBron's intention to play. And I think the focus right now is making a deal with the Lakers," Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN Cleveland.
He went on to say that James is allowed to negotiate with the Lakers and he believes that's what's happening, that they're going back and forth. But that the reality is, free agency is around the corner.
"The amount of (LeBron's said) deal may depend on what else the Lakers might be able to do in free agency. And if ... he is at an impasse with the Lakers and there is no deal there, then I think other teams, like the Cavs, should stand to attention. But the league generally believes the two sides are going to come together," Windhorst said.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs 2016 Championship team celebrates 10-year anniversary in Europe