What Dylan Windler reportedly being done for season means for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced that rookie wing Dylan Windler will miss the rest of the 2019-20 season on Monday due to his reported stress reaction in his lower left leg. Here’s what that means for the club.

Coming into the 2019-20 season, I was pretty excited about what wing Dylan Windler could bring to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Windler, who was Cleveland’s 26th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft (via the Houston Rockets), shot 40.6% from three-point range in a four-year career at Belmont and had 21.3 points per game in his senior season, as demonstrated by Sports Reference.

He also flashed his deep range playing in Summer League for the Cavs, and he would’ve been a solid ball-mover for Cleveland with good secondary playmaking instincts that’d come in handy.

The 6-foot-6 Windler, frankly, would’ve been a nice primary backup for Cedi Osman at the 3, and I would’ve thought Windler would’ve meshed well with fellow rookies Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr., along with a variety of other pieces, such as Larry Nance Jr., too.

Unfortunately, we won’t see Windler at all this season

Unfortunately, the Wine and Gold have not had Windler available all season, as Windler has been battling a reported stress reaction in his lower left leg since before the season started. The team announced on Monday that he’s now going to miss the rest of the year, too.

This has to have been devastating for the 23-year-old rookie, and I wish him the best of luck in the recovery process. According to the aforementioned status update from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Windler will have to have surgery, “which is scheduled for January 21.”

So what does this mean for the Cavs, then?

A few things stick out at first glance to me.

The first one is involving Cedi Osman.

Continued reliance on Osman

Cedi Osman, given that Garland appears to be the Cavs’ primary playmaker of the future, along with Kevin Love being mostly healthy this year, has not had near the same amount of on-ball creation responsibility he had in 2018-19.

That being said, Osman has done pretty well, by and large, playing the majority of minutes at the 3 for Cleveland head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff.

Plus, Osman’s defense, off the ball, in particular, seems to have taken positive strides.

Osman’s had 10.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 29.4 minutes per game in 2019-20, as noted by Basketball Reference. The key, though, has been that Cedi’s been used much more as a cutter off-ball as compared to last season, and Osman is shooting 37.6% on 4.6 three-point attempts per game, as again, Basketball Reference shows.

Clearly, he’s benefited from the passing vision of Love often on the wing or in the mid-post, and Osman has received plenty of effective kickouts and wraparounds from Garland, and Matthew Dellavedova and Porter have done so some to Osman, too.

If he’s able to play meaningful minutes regularly the rest of the season, I’d think Dante Exum could mesh well with Osman in some minutes together on the floor as well.

So again, especially with Porter out realistically through the All-Star break due to a reported left knee sprain, I’d expect the Cavs to play Osman 30-plus minutes per game the rest of the way.

Along with that, with the Cavaliers feasibly trading Kevin Love near the February 6 trade deadline, given recent reports and with him seemingly having two feet nearly out the door already, Osman could be used as a playmaker more in the last two months of this season.

Now to the other thing that sticks out to me in regards to Windler reportedly missing his entire rookie campaign (at least formally his rookie campaign).

Cleveland could look to add a developmental wing via trade/the draft

Considering the Cleveland Cavaliers still have four expiring contract players in Tristan Thompson, John Henson, Matthew Dellavedova and Brandon Knight, along with the situation involving Love, you’d think a few trades should come in the next few weeks.

Cleveland general manager Koby Altman and the organization are undoubtedly in asset accumulation mode, and owner Dan Gilbert has shown he’s more than willing to take on bad contract money if future draft capital/developmental pieces come along via trade/potential three-team trade.

Windler appeared to have the makings of a viable wing option going into this season as the Cavs’ draft selection they acquired in a reported deadline deal last year from Houston in what was a three-team trade that also involved the Sacramento Kings.

However, factoring in that it’s uncertain how Windler will shake out as a Cavalier, given him missing this entire season, and with Porter sidelined for a good while, I could see the Cavs looking to add another developmental wing/small-ball 4 near the deadline, or perhaps if the team can acquire another lower first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft via trade.

Cleveland in the short-term have Alfonzo McKinnie, who has actually played the 4 mostly for them, and he’s given them some productive energy minutes as a rebounder/cutter, but he’s currently playing out a 10-day contract, along with previous two-way man Tyler Cook. Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies hit on how Cleveland could sign both to 10-days again following that, but can not do so again for them, in particular, again this season.

Anyway, it’s unclear whether the Cavaliers would want to feasibly sign the 27-year-old McKinnie, a realistic reserve 3 option that was one point reportedly waived, to a rest-of-season deal if he maybe played out a second 10-day deal.

Minus Windler, and with the way the league is at this point, I’d think the Cavs could at least look to add another younger wing via two-way deal by the January 15 two-way deadline, as they reportedly waived one of their prior two-way’s in Levi Randolph, or perhaps could look to add a developmental wing via trade and/or look to add one if they acquire a lower first-round pick via trade in the upcoming draft.

Ideally, a defensive-minded wing with some plus length would make sense in that realm.

Moreover, I hope Windler recovers from this injury in due time for his and the Cavs’ sake. He could really bring a high quality spacing, cutting, passing and also rebounding element to Cleveland in coming years if he can be on the healthier side.

For now, my fingers are crossed for him.