3 Cavs players trending up moving further into January

No. 3: Cedi Osman

Don’t look now, but Cedi Osman is heating up for the Wine and Gold. No, the four-of-12 Wednesday performance versus Phoenix didn’t highlight it; he did still give Cleveland a meaningful boost with his energy, though, and that’s part of the reason why in that game, he was a team-high plus-11.

The sixth-year swingman did miss a couple of recent contests with back soreness, however, he gave the Cavs a lift in his bench minutes with 12 points against Chicago on Monday night. Additionally, in his last nine appearances, he’s had 12.9 points in 24.8 minutes per game, and has had a cumulative plus-minus of plus-5.9, which has been a Cavs’ best.

In that span, he’s converted on 37.8 percent of his three-point shot attempts, and Osman has at times found ways to avail himself for leak-outs in the open floor, leading to energy plays and early-clock buckets. His true shooting rate in that nine-game stretch has been a robust 63.3 percent, for good measure.

Now, Osman is naturally going to be a player that can be streaky offensively, but he has the capability to ignite runs, as he’s proven in recent seasons. It’s been good to see Osman given more opportunities in recent weeks to establish a rhythm and help give the team a lift in his minutes, as opposed to other points in the season thus far, such as when he’s had DNPs on occasion.

And while he could be a player continually mentioned as a potential trade chip, as has been a player in trade rumors for some time it seems, he has demonstrated he can be an X-factor-type player off Cleveland’s bench that can go off in a moment’s notice.

Time will tell, but Osman has shown he can be a spark plug for the Cavaliers, and he’s amid a productive stretch to begin 2023.