How injuries have shaped the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season

With another injury to the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing Evan Mobley for the next few weeks, the Cavaliers have struggled to stay healthy this season.

All these injuries have been a reason for the Cavs early season struggles, as they just sit at just the No. 7 seed. The roster has been able to find consistency, and it seems like it’ll be awhile before they find any still.

Here’s a quick recap on Cleveland’s injury problems so far this season.

For starters, Cleveland has been without Max Strus all season long. He suffered a broken foot during the offseason, and isn’t expected to return until the all-star break at the earliest.

During the offseason the Cavaliers also learned Darius Garland wouldn’t be available right away. He had been struggling with a toe injury sustained in the playoffs last year. Currently, he’s been able to play 10 games, but clearly isn’t back to full strength.

Backing him up has been Lonzo Ball, for the most part. However, the Cavs came into the season knowing Ball would be carefully nursing his knees after missing several seasons. He’s appeared in 19 games, but won’t play in any back-to-backs this season.

Early in the year, Jarrett Allen went down with a broken finger. He has missed time because of it, but tried to quickly come back and keep playing. That allowed him to see a little more action, before being ruled out once again with the same injury. He has played 15 games this year. 

More Cavs injuries

Then you include a couple of Cleveland’s depth pieces in both Sam Merrill and Larry Nance Jr., who are each on Cleveland’s injury report.

Merrill suffered a hand injury in the middle of November. Initial reports hinted it may be a short injury, but as time got on, frustration has grown with Merrill's lack of progress. The game-changing sharp-shooter has only gotten into 12 games this year, and may still be out for a while longer. Factor in the time it’ll take him to get back in rhythm, and you see why Cleveland has been out of sync.

Nance is dealing with a calf strain he sustained near the end of November. He likely won’t be back until January, terrible timing to lose depth in the front court. With Allen and Mobley out, Cleveland is going to have to rely on some new pieces such as Thomas Bryant and Nae’Qwan Tomlin to make contributions as the team’s bigs. 

Cleveland has played 26 games this year, and no player has appeared in all 26. Mobley was the team’s leader playing in 25 games. Five other players have played over 20 games in Donovan Mitchell, Dean Wade, Jaylon Tyson, De’Andre Hunter and Craig Porter. 

With all the injuries, it’s easy to understand why things haven’t been going well for the team. It’s a next-man up mentality for a team just trying to get healthy. Optimistically, if the stars can get healthy and in rhythm before the postseason, Cleveland will be one of the deepest teams in the league. That’s always a plus, assuming things go right on the way to the postseason.