Cleveland Cavaliers: Dean Wade could now be expendable

I was pleased with the play of Dean Wade last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was previously on a two-way deal for Cleveland in his first season in 2019-20 after having gone undrafted out of Kansas State, and he did not appear much then with Cleveland.

With the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate, the then-Canton Charge (now Cleveland Charge), Wade did get his share of opportunities to develop, though. With them, he most notably knocked in 39.9 percent of his then-4.6 three-point attempts per contest, and he started in nearly all of his 30 appearances for the Charge that season.

With the Cavaliers last year, after which he was signed to a multi-year, albeit non-guaranteed deal from then on in the 2020 offseason, he did make his imprint. Injury woes for the likes of Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr., who has since been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, did play into it, but Wade did show some nice things.

He was better than I would’ve anticipated defensively in rotational minutes, at least to a decent extent I thought, and Wade knocked in a respectable 36.6 percent of his three-point attempts. That was 3.4 per contest in what was 19.2 minutes per game for him in 63 appearances, and he averaged 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in that playing time.

Wade looked to be more confident as last season wore on, and I did think that based on what he showed, that he could stick around.

Nonetheless, with Cleveland drafting Evan Mobley, still having Kevin Love around, even with injury concerns, and with the recent Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade acquisition, Wade could seemingly be waived at some point before next season. Or in the early going of it, if not then.

Wade could now be expendable from the Cavs’ perspective.

I wouldn’t expect Markkanen to be regularly starting at the 4 for Cleveland next season, but as we’ve hit on, he’ll be a crucial offensive player throughout games.

Markkanen, even with some ups and downs and injury issues in the past two seasons, did still have his moments with the Bulls, and last season, he knocked in 40.2 percent from three.

He’ll be the Cavs’ top stretch big option, and while we’ll have to see if Love could potentially be bought out at some point next season, that seems to make Wade possibly expendable. And Love, with him still in the fold, will have a role in his own right, I would imagine; his role could reportedly be a bench 5 for some of the time, for what it’s worth.

Granted, I do still like Wade, and he could maybe play in some spurts with Markkanen at the 5 with him, or perhaps he could function as a jumbo 3 here and there, as he did occasionally last season.

But at this juncture, with Markkanen in tow in a key role, with Wade being more so a catch-and-shoot player, though another big, and with him non-guaranteed, he could seemingly be an odd man out, if you will. Markkanen is a player that can at times create his own offense, too, to that point.

Now, I could foresee Mfiondu Kabengele having a similar fate, regardless of if recent training camp signing Tacko Fall has a case for potentially making the team, and I’m far more fond of Wade, to get that out there, than Kabengele. Kabengele was underwhelming in Las Vegas Summer League, also.

Circling back to Wade though, with Markkanen in tow, to go with Mobley, who will likely be a key offensive catalyst, along with Jarrett Allen, one shouldn’t be surprised if Wade was eventually waived.

Furthermore, while they could both stick around, with Lamar Stevens’ ability to defend a number of different positions and with him a small-ball 4 option that can create for himself some, he could cut into Wade’s potential for minutes, too. Stevens is non-guaranteed, but he could be a defensive specialist, whereas I wouldn’t deem Wade that, even with him being better there than I would’ve originally anticipated.

And as far as another possible rotational contributor/player that could have a roster for Cleveland, perhaps the Cavs could sign a wing via team-friendly deal such as Garrison Mathews, James Ennis III or take a flyer on a player such as Jaylen Hoard.

So all things considered, though I like what he brings, the 24-year-old Wade could be expendable from the Wine and Gold’s standpoint now.