It was rough for Isaac Okoro and the Cleveland Cavaliers a few weeks back when Okoro was placed into COVID-19 health and safety protocols, as the second-year wing had been getting going offensively. In Okoro’s last five games prior to going into health and safety protocols, he had 16.6 points per outing, and was one of the key reasons why Cleveland had been on a roll.
Now, the Cavs weren’t beating world beaters in those outings, and a few teams were really banged up or dealing with virus issues. Even still, Okoro and the team were playing very well, and for much of the season, the group has been better than I would’ve anticipated from quality defense, productive man and ball movement and hitting timely three-point looks.
Nonetheless, on the Okoro front, it was again tough that he went into protocols when he was seemingly hitting his stide, but he has done some good things in recent games since his return as a driver/transition presence. The defense from him has been solid, by and large, in particular.
That said, Okoro again had a bad luck break, as in Sunday’s win over the Indiana Pacers, Okoro suffered an elbow injury on a play he was trying to defend in pick-and-roll, and the injury occurred from a Domantas Sabonis screen set on him. He left to the locker room right after that in the second quarter, and did not return.
Per a Cavaliers team announcement on Monday, Okoro is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks with a left elbow sprain, and his status will be updated when appropriate.
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 3, 2022
This is more crappy injury news for the Cavs, and hopefully guys such as Lamar Steven and Cedi Osma, when he’s back, can step up.
This was more tough injury news for the Wine and Gold, who also lost Ricky Rubio for the season due to a torn ACL last week, and the Cavaliers have been and will be without Collin Sexton (meniscus surgery) for the season, as of early November.
With Okoro, who has often filled in for Sexton, out in this expected 2-3 week span, I’d like to see Lamar Stevens be utilized in minutes at the 2, feasibly as a starter in that stretch. That’s because of his defensive versatility, to go with some rim pressure and mid-range touch.
Along with Stevens, perhaps we could see Dylan Windler in some rotational minutes, though he’s currently dealing with knee soreness and confidence has seemingly been an issue for Windler in catch-and-shoot situations.
Regardless of that, Windler has honestly been disppointing this season, and more realistically, while one could see the Cavaliers looking into potential trades due to recent injuries, when he is back from health and safety protocols, seemingly soon, Cedi Osman will get his share of playing time. I’d expect that to be with Stevens somewhat, and either with Darius Garland (who should be back soon from protocols) or the recently-acquired Rajon Rondo (who seems set to make his debut on Cleveland’s upcoming road trip).
As a brief side note, Rondo’s trade to Cleveland from the Los Angeles Lakers was reportedly a deal that also featured the New York Knicks, who received cash, Denzel Valentine and the draft rights to two players likely not to play in the NBA, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Cap relief for L.A. and cash to the Knicks was also involved, and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium first reported New York would be involved in the deal generally.
Looking past that brief note from the Rondo deal, I’d imagine for some spurts here and there, following this Okoro injury, we could potentially see some minutes with Rondo at the 1 and Darius Garland playing some more off-ball.
But as we touched on before, I’d look for Stevens to possibly have a larger minutes-share sans Okoro, Osman, when he’s back, to get some again notable time.
And while it’s uncertain for now if Cleveland were to do so, perhaps the likes of hardship exception signing Brandon Goodwin, could maybe stick around. That can’t be via two-way deal, though, as Goodwin is in his fourth year of game experience, so RJ Nembhard I wouldn’t expect to be waived essentially for Goodwin, and Kevin Pangos’ deal is fully guaranteed.
In any case, hopefully Okoro recovers fully in coming weeks, and doesn’t suffer any setbacks. He’s an important defensive piece and has improved his off-ball feel/timing.