Lamar Stevens minutes for Cavs can still be impactful

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (left), wing Lamar Stevens (#8) and big Kevin Love celebrate after a win. (Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (left), wing Lamar Stevens (#8) and big Kevin Love celebrate after a win. (Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports)
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Lamar Stevens, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are fourth in the Eastern Conference at the moment as the squad hosted the All-Star festivities this year, which is nice timing. The Cavaliers are an up-and-coming team, after three years largely consisting of growing pains.

To put it simply, with Cleveland hosting All-Star Weekend this go-round, the team turning a corner this season has been great to see, and this season, the Cavaliers have had two players compete in the Clorox Rising Stars Challenge, and they had two players in the All-Star Game itself.

Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro repped Team Barry in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday and won that, and Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen (as James Harden’s injury replacement) competed with Team LeBron in the All-Star Game on Sunday, and helped them win. Garland, Mobley and Allen participated in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge on Saturday, and took the W in that, too.

The gist is, it’s been a resurgent year for the Wine and Gold, to say the least. Even with the club having its share of injuries this season, such as most notably Collin Sexton and later on, Ricky Rubio, the Cavaliers have found ways to win throughout this season, and I’m not going to overreact to their last two losses before the current All-Star break.

It’s also good to know that Lauri Markkanen, who has missed Cleveland’s past 11 games because of a high ankle sprain, is progressing tangibly, and he is reportedly ramping up his workouts and could seemingly be back soon after the All-Star break concludes.

One player that appears to be on the outside looking in for minutes for the Cavaliers as they’re set to begin their closing stretch of the regular season is Lamar Stevens, though, and I still do believe he can be a meaningful contributor for Cleveland.

Stevens minutes for the Cavs can still be impactful.

We’ve often seen Stevens make his presence felt as a multi-positional defender for Cleveland consistently when he’s received rotational minutes this season, as he did at various points during last season, and his offense has improved.