Runway should be clearer for Cavs’ Dean Wade post-All-Star break

Even prior to Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers agreeing to a buyout which was reportedly finalized recently, Dean Wade had supplanted Love in the Cavaliers’ rotation. It was a tough call at the time, but it was the right one, with how Love had been dealing with a thumb injury that was affecting his shot, and with how Wade is one of Cleveland’s best two-way contributors.

Now from here, following Love and the team moving on from one another, we could see Wade back more in the fold in games.

That’s often been the case already prior to post-All-Star break play with Wade gradually working his way back in rhythm following his return from an AC joint injury and then an ankle sprain, but it seems more apparent that Wade could have a more notable minutes-share. Wade is one of the Cavaliers’ best defenders, and when healthy, he’s shown he can be a valuable catch-and-shoot presence to have for stretches, whether he’s been at the 3 or 4.

From here, more runway looks to be cleared for the Cavs’ Wade.

Wade is going to have some minutes at the 4 in spurts backing up Evan Mobley, but one would think he’ll have some with Mobley at the 5, as we’ve seen since he was inserted in favor of Love.

In addition to that, though, Wade has been viable in stretches at the 3 with both Mobley and Allen in with him. That includes in some starts early on in the season, for example, and perhaps Cleveland could potentially utilize Wade back in that spot. Either way, with how Wade can defend and with how he meshes as a cutter, can run the floor and make quality, quick decisions, he should have regular minutes.

Now to reiterate, Wade had essentially been playing over Love, who’s now with the Miami Heat, which was reportedly expected before to the signing, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, prior to Love’s buyout. But from here, Wade should be able to have more rhythm offensively, and in the same light, with him being able to play in varying lineups defensively, him regularly playing 17-20 minutes wouldn’t seem unrealistic.

He had been playing significant minutes upon his return for the vast majority of those games, at 21.5 minutes per appearance in his first 11 games back, in which he had a plus-minus of plus-3.3 and shot 40.6 percent from three, albeit on 2.9 attempts per outing. However, in the last three games pre-All-Star, he was in for 11, six and nine minutes.

Of course, Mobley, who has been playing great basketball for the Cavaliers, is going to have his 32-plus minutes. But it’s evident that Wade is one of Cleveland’s most viable two-way players, and it could pay dividends for the Cavs to have him in there a few meaningful stretches in games, and it could help keep Mobley more fresh as the season heads toward the playoffs, and for the playoffs themselves.

Granted, there’s others involved at the 3 spot, too, and Caris LeVert, Danny Green now and Cedi Osman all have their selling points, excluding Isaac Okoro in this sense. LeVert and Green, in particular, would feasibly be playoff factors, for differing reasons; that said, I recognize Osman’s value as a player that can get hot still, and change games.

All things considered, though, with his presence as a three-and-D contributor that’s capable of defending multiple positions, help Cleveland’s rebounding efforts, and finish especially well inside, more rotational runway should be cleared for Wade.

Time will tell on that front in post-All-Star play here, and the 6-foot-9 Wade could play in some lineups with LeVert and/or Osman from time to time, but generally, Wade should definitely be an every-game bench piece.