Cleveland Cavaliers get plethora of bad injury news

The Cleveland Cavaliers got served plenty of bad news ahead of Sunday night’s game against the Boston Celtics.

It has been a rough start to the season for the Cavaliers, who are 12-8 and currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Now, it could get a little bit tougher without key players in Jarrett Allen, Larry Nance Jr. and Sam Merrill.

Allen has been dealing with a broken finger for several weeks, but the Cavaliers announced that he will be sidelined approximately one week to let it recover. Meanwhile, Nance will miss up to four weeks after an MRI revealed a Grade 1 soleus strain in his calf.

Merrill has been sidelined with a hand sprain for the last week, and he is considered day-to-day.

The good news is that Craig Porter Jr. is making his return to the lineup after missing three games.

This means that the Cavaliers will remain undermanned, an issue that has surrounded the team all season. They started their 2025-26 campaign without All-Star point guard Darius Garland who was wrapping up recovery on the toe surgery from last season. The Cavs are still waiting on the debut of Max Strus, which could be months away due to an offseason Jones fracture in his foot.

These injuries will give Evan Mobley the much-needed confidence to bounce back from an inconsistent start to his season. During the offseason, Mobley was touted as a potential MVP candidate. But he’s wildly failed to live up to those expectations due to an expanded role that consists of more shooting and ball-handling, which are developmental pieces of his game and not his strongest attributes.

Without Allen and Nance, this also means that the Thomas Bryant era of Cavaliers basketball is upon us. While Dean Wade will be able to handle some additional work, the Cavs will need all of their reinforcements without two key big men.

The Cavs have already been eliminated from the NBA Cup, so their intentions are clearly on the NBA Playoffs. Last season, the Cavs won 64 games. It ultimately did not matter as they were unceremoniously bounced in the second-round of the postseason against the Indiana Pacers.

Prioritizing having all of their impact players healthy in the spring instead of during the regular season is clearly the mission, as the Cavaliers were already fined $100,000 for load management earlier this month.

Postseason success is what is important in Cleveland. But they will also want to make sure that they have enough experience to gel together during the regular season so they can be playing their best basketball when the lights are the brightest.