The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to a 5-4 start, which is likely better than many would’ve anticipated, with the team having very difficult competition to this point. It is still very early in the 2021-22 season, to get that caveat out there, but things seem to be looking up for the Wine and Gold.
The Cavs went 3-2 on their five-game road trip, most of which involved games versus clubs in the Western Conference, and they faced their share of heavyweights. Cleveland ended things out with a quality win over a high-flying Charlotte Hornets team on Monday, too, which was nice.
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, there were a few rough hands they have been dealt this week. Two of their bigs were placed into COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Those two players were reportedly first Kevin Love, and then Lauri Markkanen was the next one to have entered those, per the team on Wednesday, with Markkanen doing so then.
This was a tough blow for both guys, with Love reportedly potentially missing more games, and Markkanen could be out for several. Now, it was encouraging that per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavaliers are 100 percent vaccinated as a team. So perhaps Markkanen and/or Love could be back pretty soon.
Wojnarowski did state this involving guidelines this season, for reference, as compared to last. If Markkanen and/or Love, at that rate, register two negative tests 24 hours apart, that would mean, in theory, they could be back at the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
NBA players testing positive have two avenues toward a return to play -- waiting 10 days from testing positive or onset of symptoms, or passing consecutive negative PCR tests 24 hours apart. Finally, players who experienced symptoms must pass cardiac testing prior to a return.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 3, 2021
We’ll have to see regarding reports of if either have symptoms, or at least in Markkanen’s, for instance, when it comes to that Wednesday report.
So again, as compared to last season, players can be back on the floor far sooner, if they pass those aforementioned negative tests 24 hours apart; if they are symptomatic, as Wojnarowski hit on, cardiac testing must be passed.
Provided there aren’t others that enter protocols on the Cavaliers, which, hopefully is the case but we’ll keep on the lookout for updates, a few players could be set for bigger roles in upcoming games.
We’ll suggest three of those Cavs players here.
One is a wing shooter that is off to quite the start, but is streaky.