Cavaliers second-year forward Evan Mobley will miss one-to-two weeks due to a right ankle sprain, the team tweets. He’ll undergo a period of treatment and rehab before returning to action.
The Cavaliers open the regular season on Oct. 19 against Toronto, so it remains to be seen whether Mobley will be ready to go by that point. Mobley appeared in 69 regular season games during his rookie year.
The Cavaliers are embracing the high expectations that came with the Donovan Mitchell trade and they’re having a great time while preparing for the new season, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Newcomer Robin Lopez raves about the team’s culture, comparing it to his time with the Bucks, and Darius Garland cites “immaculate vibes around the gym.” Veteran forward Kevin Love agrees, saying he enjoys being around his teammates.
“I think it’s just the temperament of this group,” Love said. “It’s one thing to say and it’s one thing to actually see it live here. More than anything, guys have a willingness to just listen, able to really communicate at a very high level. I think that all starts with (coach J.B. Bickerstaff) but trickles down through the coaching staff. I think we just have very, very high character people, let alone players, out here with us. I think we’ve gotten better every practice so far.”
The addition of Mitchell has added to the optimism that was built as the Cavs reached the play-in tournament last season, and he has been “rejuvenated” by his new surroundings after leaving a veteran team in Utah, Fedor states. Caris LeVert adds that he felt welcome right away after being traded to Cleveland in February.
“It’s a unique group in the sense that everyone celebrates each other and we celebrate the wins,” LeVert said. “We’re always looking out for each other. That’s super unique, especially in the NBA with a lot of different mentalities around the league. I think here it’s all about team, it’s all about family.”
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The Cavaliers will open the season with three 2022 All-Stars – Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, and Darius Garland – on their roster, but it’s a fourth player who may ultimately determine how far the team goes, in the view of head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
As Kelsey Russo of The Athletic details (via Twitter), Bickerstaff identifies second-year big man Evan Mobley as a crucial ceiling raiser for the franchise. As Bickerstaff explains, among the Cavaliers’ core players, Mobley is the one who still has the most room for growth.
“Without trying to put too much on him, he is the guy who can help take us to the next level,” Bickerstaff said. “We understand the value of the guys who have done it, right? Darius has been an All-Star. Jarrett was an All-Star. Donovan has been an All-Star. (Caris) LeVert, Kevin (Love), like we understand and have an appreciation for those guys.
“… His skill set and tools can help take us to the level where we want to go. And the expectation that it happens overnight, probably not. But I expect from year to year, and month to month, you’re going to see improvements from him because that’s who he is.”
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Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland says fellow guard Caris LeVert was never fully healthy after Cleveland acquired him in a deal with Indiana last season, but he’s turning some heads in training camp, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com relays (via Twitter).
“Caris is on a tear right now. He’s scoring the ball really well, he’s playing both sides of the ball, he’s defending really hard. We just have that attack mentality right now. He’s looking really good,” Garland said.
LeVert has plenty of financial incentive to have a big season in 2022/23. The 28-year-old is extension-eligible as he enters the final season of his $18.8MM contract. He averaged 13.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 3.9 APG on .435/.313/.745 shooting in 19 games (10 starts, 29.8 MPG) with the Cavs in ’21/22.
Here’s more from the Central:
SEPTEMBER 27: Wade’s extension is now official, the Cavaliers announced today (via Twitter).
SEPTEMBER 24: The Cavaliers will sign forward Dean Wade to a three-year extension worth $18.5MM, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wade, who will make $1.93MM this season, had been on track to become a free agent next summer, so the extension will begin in 2023 and will keep him under contract through the end of 2025/26. The agreement was confirmed by Wade’s agents, Austin Walton and Adam Papas, according to Woj.
Wade, a 25-year-old small forward, has been with Cleveland for the past three seasons after earning a two-way contract in 2019. Much of his first year was spent in the G League, but he has been a part of the rotation the last two years and may be in contention for a starting spot heading into training camp.
Wade appeared in 51 games last season, making 28 starts, and averaged 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 45.6% from the field and 35.9% from three-point range. He underwent meniscus surgery in March, but he was cleared to resume basketball activities in early May.
The extension fully guarantees Wade’s contract for the upcoming season and gives Cleveland 14 players with guaranteed deals, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio, who suffered a torn left ACL last December, is hopeful he can return to action this December, but won’t put a timetable on it, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes.
“I wanted to be ready for training camp but I knew it was impossible,” Rubio said. “Talking with my trainers and medical staff, they say 10-12 months but it’s a long range. It changes every week. At the end of the day, putting a date on it, for me personally, I need it. But I think it’s not good to put a date when I’m going to be back.”
Rubio returned to Cleveland on a three-year, $18.4MM contract.
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New Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen spoke with Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune (subscriber exclusive) in a wide-ranging conversation.
The 25-year-old has had a busy summer. In addition to being one of the centerpieces in the deal that saw the Jazz shipping All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell to the Cavaliers, Markkanen also starred for his native Finland in Berlin for this year’s EuroBasket, racking up the second-highest scoring average in the tournament. The team ultimately fell in the quarterfinals.
This is the second consecutive offseason relocation Markkanen has undergone during his burgeoning pro career. In the summer of 2021, he joined Cleveland in a sign-and-trade deal, inking a four-year, $67.5MM contract. During his lone season with the 44-38 Cavaliers, the seven-footer, traditionally a power forward, started as the team’s small forward for the first time in his NBA career. In 61 games, all starts, he averaged 14.8 PPG on .445/.358/.868 shooting splits, 5.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG.
Walden’s interview is worth reading in full, but here are some select highlights from the conversation:
On Markkanen’s reaction to the trade:
“It was kind of a shock. I didn’t hear anything before, I didn’t see my name in any rumors… It was emotional. I understand the business side of it, so I’ve got no hard feelings. I thanked them for the opportunity that I had. But the first moments were really emotional for me, because we really liked Cleveland, and thought we’d found a home there.”
On playing for his homeland in this summer’s EuroBasket competition:
“[Finland’s standing among its EuroBasket rivals is] still a work in progress. But [rewind] to, like, [11] years ago when they made EuroBasket for the first time in a while at that point — it’s been on the rise since… They were part of the World Cup in [2015]. It’s been going up for a while. I’m happy to be a part of it, and I understand the history. … I’m trying to take this thing even further.”
On how close he came to attending the University of Utah as a college prospect in 2016:
“Utah was my first visit. I was on the visit with my dad, and I remember joking to him, ‘Do I have to go to the other two places? Because I feel comfortable there.’ I was pretty confident that I’m gonna go to Utah… But then we cleared our minds and took the other two visits. And my gut feeling [was strong] when I got to Arizona.”