The Cleveland Cavaliers are on the verge of being swept by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals as they trail 3-0 going into Friday night's Game 4.

They were in the same situation last year but managed to avoid a sweep by blowing the Dubs away with a devastating offensive display that briefly kept them alive in the series before losing in five games.

This may be a fourth consecutive Finals meeting between them, but the Cavs only feature four players on their roster from those three previous meetings.

LeBron James, Kevin Love, JR Smith and Tristan Thompson are the only survivors as the Cavaliers have drastically overhauled their roster this season.

This is clearly the weakest squad they've had over their four meetings with the Warriors and were always the heavy underdogs compared to previous years.

The loss of Kyrie Irving in the summer clearly made all the difference as that failed trade with the Boston Celtics has now come back to bite the Ohio-based franchise.

Cleveland just hasn't been able to get a reliable second scorer outside of LeBron, with Love only sometimes showing glimpses that he can step up and assume that role but not consistently enough.

According to one unnamed player on the Cavaliers, they would be leading 3-0 against the Warriors if they still had Irving at their disposal.

"We'd be up 3-0 if Kyrie was still here. I have no doubt," he told The Athletic's Jason Lloyd.

Tthe five-time All-Star shocked the team by requesting a trade last summer and was ultimately given his wish as he was sent to the Celtics in the biggest deal of the offseason.

In return, the Cavs received Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the rights to the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 first-round pick - which is now the eighth overall selection in this year's draft.

But although the superstar point guard would have made a huge difference to the Wine and Gold in this series, he wasn't able to hugely affect things last year when they were in the same hole.

This Cleveland roster simply doesn't have the experience that they had in recent years with the likes of Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye offering veteran leadership both on and off the floor.

With Kyrie departing last summer, there's a worry that James could follow suit and leave his hometown team once again next month.

The Game 4 encounter with the Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena could well be his last outing in a Cavaliers uniform.

The next couple of weeks will be crucial in determining what the future holds for the King and the Cavs organisation.

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