Injury update on Cavaliers' hurt player is disappointing but not disastrous

A reminder for NBA fans reading injury timelines: reevaluation does not mean a return.

In the final week of preseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers saw their start to the season flash before their eyes when Max Strus injured his ankle and it was announced that he would miss six weeks. This was a team trying to get a fresh start with a new head coach and prove to the league they could contend with this group of players. As the teams around them made significant moves, adding players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Paul George, the Cavaliers largely stood pat, trusting in their roster to improve together.

The Max Strus injury was scary

Then Strus went down, and the Cavaliers were looking at the league's most grueling stretch of games to start the season and potentially falling behind in the Eastern Conference standings without their best 3-and-D wing and a key starter.

That obviously did not happen, as instead, the Cavaliers reeled off 15-straight wins to start the season without Strus. It's not that they were better off without him, just that the other players on the team stepped up in a major way. Having to reach deeper into the roster didn't hurt them, and whether it was Isaac Okoro or Dean Wade the starting lineup didn't suffer without him.

Yet a rash of injuries on the wing did hurt them in their first and only loss of the season, a 3-point defeat in Boston to the defending champs, a game where having a two-way wing like Strus would have helped them out. When facing the best teams in the league, having a player like Strus who fits the starting lineup so well is much more important.

That's why many Cavaliers fans were excited about the pending return of Strus from injury. Count out six weeks from the time of the original injury, and you land near the end of November. Did that mean Max Strus was about to return?

Head coach Kenny Atkinson gave an injury update to the media on Saturday, and it included a disappointing report on Max Strus: he is “making progress but still a ways away.”

Max Strus isn't coming back yet

At first blush, that seems like Atkinson is reporting a setback for Strus. But that's where we circle back to the initial announcement, that Strus would be "reevaluated" in six weeks. That doesn't mean he was expected to return. Some players are reevaluated, the injury has fully healed, and they quickly transition to an on-court return.

For other players, however, the reevaluation is a check-in that indicates that player needs more time -- not because they reinjured it, or because the injury is worse than feared, but because injusy timelines are an estimate, not a guarantee, and because everyone heals differently.

What Atkinson didn't say was that Strus needed surgery, or any procedure, or was seeking other treatment methods. He is still progressing, still healing, just not yet ready to return. While the Cavaliers would love for him to be back on the court, it's not a disastrous injury update -- just a disappointing one.

Isaac Okoro is poised to return and rejoin the starting lineup. Dean Wade and Caris LeVert are nursing minor injuries and shouldn't be out long. Rookie Jaylon Tyson appears ready to increase his role. The 16-1 Cavaliers are not desperate for Strus to return. They can weather things without him.

By the time the playoffs roll around, the Cavaliers need all of their best players on hand, including Max Strus. For now, they can afford to be patient.

And next time a team says a player will be reevaluated, don't mark your calendars for a return quite yet.