Cavs news: Ante Zizic out indefinitely; team to sign Alfonzo McKinnie to second 10-day

According to the Cleveland Cavaliers, big man Ante Zizic is going to be sidelined indefinitely due to a vestibular condition, and in other news, the team is reportedly set to sign forward Alfonzo McKinnie to a second 10-day contract on Thursday.

It’s been a tough season for Cleveland Cavaliers big man Ante Zizic, who has had a bunch of unfortunate injury luck.

Zizic was out for all of the preseason, and did not appear for Cleveland until mid-November due to reported a plantar fasciitis issue in his left foot, and that was too bad for him, as Cavs head coach John Beilein was very bullish on Zizic coming into training camp it seemed.

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At this point, though, Zizic has only appeared in 16 of 44 games in this 2019-20 season for the Cavaliers, mostly due to that injury issue not allowing him to get in-rhythm, and Cleveland having the likes of Tristan Thompson, John Henson and/or Larry Nance Jr. as 5 options ahead of Zizic in most instances.

When Zizic has played for the Cavs, though, I believe he’s done pretty well as an interior rolling/low-post scoring threat. 4.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in just 9.9 minutes of action per appearance this season, as noted by Basketball Reference, is not all that bad.

Last season, when Zizic had more of a regular minutes-share, especially given that Love and Thompson were sidelined much of the year, the big man had respectable averages of 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 59 appearances, of which he played 18.3 minutes per game.

Now, more injury issues have come for Zizic. According to a Cavs release on Wednesday, Zizic will be “sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a vestibular condition.”

Cleveland also noted that rookie wing Dylan Windler, who is not going to be playing at all this season, had surgery in relation to his lower leg stress reaction that went well.

This has to be crushing for Zizic, who I would’ve thought would’ve been set up for an expanded role post-trade deadline, which is February 6 at 3 P.M.

The reason for that would seem to be that Kevin Love wants to be traded, according to Fedor in a recent mailbag set of responses, and I’d imagine the Cavs want to part ways with Love, given what’s transpired this season, and Tristan Thompson and John Henson are both on expiring contracts.

Thompson, especially given a reported likely season-ending Achilles injury to Dallas Mavericks big Dwight Powell, would make for a player Dallas could definitely target via trade, along with other contenders, really, considering the career year TT’s having. Henson, also because of him being a solid roller/screener and due to him leading the Cavaliers in blocks per game with 1.2 this season, as noted by NBA.com, despite playing only 13.2 minutes per game, would make for a nice reserve piece in a contender’s rotation, too.

Anyhow, this injury to Zizic, who could feasibly have been in-line for more meaningful minutes post-deadline, is one that does not have a time table yet.

Zizic has been dealing with “symptoms of nausea and dizziness,” according to the Cavs’ release, and that was related to a blow to the head he suffered in Cleveland’s game earlier this month at the Denver Nuggets, Fedor said.

Again, this is tough news for Zizic, and even more so when you factor in that Cleveland reportedly did not pick up his fourth-year option at the early portion of the season. His NBA future, even though it was previously reported that Cleveland could potentially bring back Zizic next season if a deal were to be team-friendly, seems even more uncertain at this point.

On a positive note, it was reported by Fedor on Wednesday that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to sign forward Alfonzo McKinnie to a second 10-day contract on Thursday.

It was somewhat surprising that Cleveland did not choose to sign McKinnie previously to another 10-day deal and only re-upped in that way with undrafted rookie and prior two-way big man Tyler Cook, who has barely played during his 10-day stints, on Monday. That was reported by Michael Scotto of The Associated Press and Bleacher Report.

Anyhow, McKinnie’s first 10-day deal expired on Sunday, as was reported by Keith Smith of Yahoo! Sports and Real GM (among others), but again, them not re-upping there was a bit of a surprise.

McKinnie, who was playing on a non-guaranteed contract before his first 10-day, as was Cook, has played well for the Cavaliers in his minutes on the floor in 2019-20.

With the Cavs devoid of real quality defenders on the wing (Cedi Osman has improved off the ball but still struggles against starting-caliber wings and 4’s), with Porter out in particular, it’s nice to have McKinnie available in the next six games.

McKinnie has great feel stunting down to bigs as a strong side helper, routinely cuts off passing lanes, and at 6-foot-7, has shown the ability to play some 4 in meaningful minutes for the Cavaliers. He’s played in that role in most of his minutes, actually.

In his first 10-day, McKinnie was showing some increased aggression it seemed on the offensive end, though, and according to NBA.com, McKinnie put up 6.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 22.1 minutes per game in eight contests.

Clearly, McKinnie has fit in as a very good cutter in settled offense, hit the occasional corner three-point shot and has finished well in transition. Overall, McKinnie has played the right way in terms of moving the ball when that’s been applicable, and has set the right example on the floor and seemingly as an exemplary teammate for Cleveland’s young players, such as Osman, Collin Sexton and Darius Garland.

Fedor would note that the Cleveland Cavaliers will likely see how the roster shakes out, in relation to if Cleveland will have a roster spot available, realistically, post-trade deadline.

McKinnie’s second 10-day will expire before then against his former team in the Golden State Warriors, and anyway, if Cleveland decides to extend a roster spot to McKinnie after that, as the aforementioned Smith emphasized, the Cavs will have to give Alfonzo at least a rest-of-season deal.

Fedor also expressed how Cleveland could potentially offer a multi-year deal at that point, too, but that I wouldn’t expect to happen at that point, really.

So there’s been a bit of good news-bad news on Wednesday with these Wine and Gold updates for Cavs fans, I’d say.