Cavaliers

NBA Flashback: Austin Carr Begins His Run As ‘Mr. Cavalier’

August 3, 2024

There’s a reason Austin Carr is known as “Mr. Cavalier.” For starters, he was the first No. 1 overall NBA draft pick in Cavaliers history.

The year was 1971 and Carr was a 6-foot-4 guard out of Notre Dame. He had scored 61 points in an NCAA tournament win over Ohio (1970), a record that still stands. And remember, there was no such thing as the 3-point line.

Overall, Carr was the only player to have scored at least 1,000 points in a college season, joining the legendary Pete Maravich.

His three-game NCAA tourney average as a senior season? Try an eye-popping 41.7 points, as the Fighting Irish made a run to the Final Four.

“For some reason, people just never, they act like it was a ho-hum thing,” Carr told David Aldridge of The Athletic. “I look at the numbers and go ‘Wait a minute; you’ve got to give me a little credit.’ … My best games were in those games because I really wanted to go to the Final Four. I would be ready to play. I didn’t care what happened. We needed one more guy to step up, and I think that would’ve gotten us over the hump.”

Carr averaged 21.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 43 appearances as an NBA rookie with the Cavs, missing the first 16 games with a broken foot. In the next season, he appeared in all 82 games (averaging 20.5 points) and 81 the year after that (career-high 21.9 ppg).

But two months into the 1974-75 season, Carr suffered a major knee injury and was never really quite the same. Back then, there weren’t the advancements in medical treatment we have today.

Still, he bounced back to be a key contributor and major member of the Miracle of Richfield team in which the Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. In 1978-79, he averaged 17.0 points per game and shot a career-best 47.5% from the field in 82 games.

Carr played for the Cavs from 1971-80, averaging 16.2 points on 45% shooting.

Eventually, Carr’s No. 34 jersey was retired along with Miracle teammates Bingo Smith and Nate Thurmond. Even then, little did we know that his career with the Cavs was really just beginning.

For the past 20 years, he’s served as the lead in-game analyst for Bally Sports Ohio (previously Fox Sports Ohio) broadcasts of Cavaliers games. He recently received the well-deserved 2024 Cleveland Association of Broadcasters award for excellence in television.

Mr. Cavalier? Without a doubt, that man can be no one but Austin Carr.