The Cavs have a team of professionals in leadership positions who just happen to be women.
Those fifteen players on the Cavaliers roster are just a fraction of the team. The organization actually employs about 1,300 team members and one in three of them is a woman.
But if you think they're at entry level positions, think again. At the top are a group of women running the business end of the organization that includes the Cavaliers, Cleveland Monsters, Cleveland Gladiators, Canton Charge basketball team and the entire Quicken Loans arena.
Alberta Lee is Vice President of Human Resources. She came from a background in higher education and never saw herself working for a professional sports team, but says it fits.
"We support the team behind the team and that is anybody and everybody else who comes to the organization to lift this great enterprise," Lee says.
Mozelle Jackson is an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. One of four women in the NBA holding that position. She came on board seven years ago after a career in accounting and financial services. She's proud of the philosophy to embrace diversity in the workplace. Because every idea matters, regardless of gender.
"It's coming from the perspective of a professional and the more diverse opinions you get the better outcome you get," Jackson says.
It's that philosophy that lured Shelly Cayette to leave a Casino marketing job in Louisiana and relocate to Cleveland. The former Tulane basketball player is now Vice President of Partnership Marketing. She hopes other businesses and franchises give more women opportunities.
"To see us leading the pack from having women in different areas of the business in leadership roles hopefully they will want to do the same," Cayette says.
Tracy Marek is Chief Marketing Officer and says working for a pro sports team was always her dream job. She balanced the finals, parade and RNC last summer. Women are known for their multi-tasking skills.
"It's becoming more relevant, more prevalent and more dominating I think that we look at women and there's such a diverse attitude and mindset and just energy that we all bring to the franchises and I think that's something that's becoming stronger," Marek says.
Dionna Widder is one of three women in the league who holds the title of Vice President of Ticket Sales and Services. It's an easier job during the finals, but it's a male dominated field.
"We always talk about the roadblocks and things like that but they're only barriers if you see them as barriers," Widder says.
She and her fellow executives have smashed through those barriers for a slam dunk career but they'll tell you a hand up doesn't only happen on the court.
"There's a lot of wonderful women coming up in the ranks and we're excited to see them and anything we can do to help them, we're out there helping them," Widder says.