The Cleveland Cavaliers are close to being whole once more.
One underrated aspect of their strong start has been their overall health as a team. The Cavaliers have played 21 games this season; Jarrett Allen and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Ty Jerome have played in every game, while Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley have all played in 20. Their core players have been available.
Yet "largely healthy" does not mean fully healthy. The Cavaliers have played their entire season without starting small forward Max Strus, and over the last half-dozen games their wing rotation has been hit even harder by injury. Their first loss of the season to the Boston Celtics came without their top four wings big enough to play small forward: Strus, Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert and Dean Wade.
Okoro only missed two games and is back in the starting lineup. LeVert missed a few more but made his return this past week. And while there is no update or specific timetable on Max Strus, he has been seen more involved in some aspects of practice.
On Monday some welcome news came down the pipeline about Dean Wade, secretly one of the most valuable players on the roster and who has missed the last six games with an ankle injury. In those six games, the Cavaliers have gone from 15-0 to 18-3; that's obviously not all a result of Wade, but his two-way ability is critical to this team.
No one else on the roster has the size and defensive ability to step in next to Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen at power forward and maintain an elite defense, while at the same time spacing the court in a consistent-enough way to be defended and therefore open up the court with his spacing. Okoro and LeVert are too slight, Georges Niang doesn't bring the defense; Wade is the only guy on the roster who checks that box.
Finally, Wade is on the cusp of a return.
Dean Wade is now questionable for Tuesday's game
Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor reported on the Wine and Gold podcast Sunday evening that Dean Wade feels healthy and is ready for a return; in fact, he was hoping to make it back for the Cavaliers' Sunday evening showdown with the Boston Celtics, which Cleveland won 115-111 to hold onto first place in the Eastern Conference.
The reason Wade was not made available to play was that head coach Kenny Atkinson wanted him to go through a full-contact practice before being cleared. With the intensity and frequency of the Cavaliers' schedule, Wade had not cleared that hurdle for a return as of Sunday.
Fedor reported on Monday that Wade tried to achieve that final objective by participating in a 3-on-3 contact workout to show the training staff -- and Atkinson -- that he was ready to play. Given that the Cavaliers play every-other-day for the rest of the week, thus limiting opportunities for a full-contact practice, this seems like it will be enough for Atkinson to give Wade the green light. If he doesn't, he may be without Wade for another week; setting aside Atkinson's love for Georges Niang, he is almost certainly ready to have Wade back in the rotation.
Atkinson wants to play one-big lineups as much as possible, but with Wade sidelined that means Niang is the only real forward left to insert at the 4. Wade can step in and excel in that role, unlocking the best lineup combinations for Cleveland and elevating their level of play even more.
There is no official announcement yet that Wade will return tonight against the Washington Wizards; it's at least possible that the training staffnson saw something they didn't like in how his ankle responded and will hold him out, or Atkinson will be a hyper-stickler for his "full-contact practice" rule, but it seems like a foregone conclusion that Wade is ready to go and will suit up tonight.
It's yet another positive step for a team having an amazing start to the season.