Cavaliers shorthanded amid Wade, Okoro injuries
The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to be without two of their best defenders for the foreseeable future.
Forward Dean Wade and wing Isaac Okoro are dealing with injuries that could keep them out past the All-Star break.
Wade suffered a bone bruise in his right knee in Friday's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks, the team announced in a statement Tuesday.
Wade's knee has no structural damage, and this is unrelated to past knee injuries, including his meniscus problem from 2023-24, Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor reported.
Okoro re-injured his right shoulder Jan. 16 in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He had missed time in December because of a sprained AC joint in the same shoulder.
"Shoulders are tricky - as the complete amateur I am," Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said, according to Fedor. "He will never say this, but you could see that he was feeling it even before he got hit again. A lot of these guys aren't 100%. But a shoulder is tricky. It's like a pitcher. That is what you're shooting with ... I told him, 'We need you as close to 100% as possible. You don't have to rush this thing.' I want him thinking long term. We need him down the road."
With Wade and Okoro sidelined, Atkinson will look to forward Max Strus to take over their duties as a starter.
"He's got to take that perimeter defender role," Atkinson said. "Isaac and Dean, that was their main task. It falls on Max. It fits his personality. It fits who he is. Done it before. Done it well. Did it in Miami. We're lucky we have another one who is capable of doing that."
The Cavaliers started the season 33-4 and sat atop the NBA, but they've lost five of their past nine games. The Thunder have surpassed them for first place.
They recently lost three games in a row for the first time this campaign. That skid was snapped Monday with a 110-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Strus was tasked with guarding Pistons star Cade Cunningham and held him to 22 points on 9-of-26 shooting and 0-for-4 from three.
"I think we made a statement defensively," Strus said. "When things don't go well, this group kind of takes things personal and has the resiliency to bounce back. I'm proud of the way we responded and our effort tonight on that end of the floor. Obviously, we weren't even that good offensively but don't need to (be) when we guard that well.
"Didn't matter who we were going to play tonight. I think the attitude and the effort we gave was going to be good against anybody."
The Cavaliers will try to build off Monday's victory Wednesday against the Miami Heat.