The Cavaliers are heading into a season with a problem they can’t easily patch over: they no longer have Dean Wade.
That might sound odd for a player who averaged just 5.8 points per game last season, but Wade’s value was never about scoring volume. It was about being the guy Cleveland could trust to handle the toughest forward matchup on the floor, and that kind of defensive flexibility is not easy to replace.
The timing makes it even worse. The Eastern Conference is loaded with big, skilled forwards, and the Cavs are going to see plenty of them right away.
On opening night, Cleveland will line up against LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers - Wade’s new team, actually. At one point, he was Cleveland’s best answer for both Brown and James.
That option is gone now.
The NBA Cup group only sharpens the issue. The Cavaliers are grouped with the 76ers, the Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks. Miami’s frontcourt features Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins, while New York has Finals star OG Anunoby.
And the East keeps adding more forward talent. The Boston Celtics are getting Jayson Tatum back.
The Toronto Raptors added Kawhi Leonard. The Atlanta Hawks have a fresh All-NBA forward in Jalen Johnson.
Both Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero are healthy in Orlando. The Washington Wizards drafted AJ Dybantsa first overall, and the Chicago Bulls brought in Caleb Wilson alongside Matas Buzelis.
It’s not just an Eastern Conference problem, either. In the West, Cam Boozer could be the next Duke forward to rise into stardom.
He joins Cooper Flagg, who is on track to be an All-Star as early as his second season. Deni Avdija broke through last year.
The San Antonio Spurs added Tobias Harris. The Houston Rockets have Kevin Durant, and the Utah Jazz are starting former Cavalier Lauri Markkanen at the 3.
Cleveland’s hope is that Peyton Watson can help ease some of the strain. It was a high-risk, high-reward move, and even if Watson becomes everything the Cavs want - an athletic defender and offensive supporting star - he still profiles more naturally as a guard stopper than a forward stopper.
The Cavaliers’ defensive idea is that Watson can take the most dangerous perimeter player, Donovan Mitchell can handle the smallest remaining assignment, and James Harden can draw the least threatening matchup, using his strength to survive even against bigger bodies.
That approach will work against some teams. It won’t work as well against the wave of elite forwards Cleveland is about to face. Matchups with players like Kawhi Leonard or Cooper Flagg leave the Cavs without the kind of dependable answer Wade once gave them.
Maybe bringing Wade back simply wasn’t realistic once Cleveland committed to the rest of its offseason plans. It took plenty of maneuvering to get down in salary, complete the sign-and-trade for Watson and still re-sign Harden on a lucrative new deal.
But even with all that business done, the reality remains the same: nearly every night this season, the Cavaliers are going to be looking for someone to deal with the league’s best forwards. That list keeps getting longer. And Cleveland may wind up missing Wade more than it expected when he walked out the door this summer.
In Other News...
Cavaliers Sweep Exposed A Bigger Problem Than James Harden
The Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals exit did more than end a season, it put a harsh spotlight on how fragile the margin can be when the shots stop falling and the mistakes pile up. Cleveland was swept by New York, and the series quickly turned into a lesson in how poor shooting, turnovers and uneven defense can overwhelm a team that looked dangerous only moments earlier. Even with talent spread across the roster, the issues that surfaced against the Knicks were bigger than any one player.
James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley all found themselves part of the same larger problem, as Cleveland struggled to match New Yorks physicality and consistency on both ends. The roster still has to answer real questions about how it is built, especially after recent moves aimed at bolstering perimeter defense, and this postseason made clear that the fixes need to show up fast. [Read more 🡒]
Which Cavs Player Really Defined No. 13 In Franchise History
The No. 13 jersey has had a surprisingly sturdy run in Cleveland, with a few different Cavaliers leaving their mark while wearing it. Johnny Moore brought veteran steadiness, John Amaechi had a brief but memorable stop, and Delonte West gave the number another familiar face during a competitive stretch for the franchise. Each left a different kind of footprint, which is part of what makes this number more than just a footnote in team history.
Tristan Thompson, though, is the name that keeps pulling the conversation back to the present era. His long run in Cleveland gave No. 13 a much more durable identity than most of the others who wore it, and his place among the franchises statistical leaders only reinforces how visible he was in that uniform. For a number that has already been tied to several distinct eras, the real question now is whether it eventually gets treated as worthy of a permanent place in Cavaliers lore. [Read more 🡒]
Egor Demin Is Giving The Nets A Reason To Watch Closely
Brandin Podziemskis new five-year extension with Golden State is a reminder of how quickly young players can move from promising to indispensable, and it comes at a time when several teams are sorting out what their recent draft picks can become. For the Cavaliers, that kind of development arc is never far from the conversation, especially in preseason, where coaching staffs are looking for signs that a player can handle more than one job on the floor and still help a team win games.
Egor Demin has been giving the Nets plenty to examine on that front, with his stated interest in contributing in multiple roles and the kind of improvement coach Jordi Fernndez has already pointed to. Cleveland has seen a parallel type of value in Peyton Watson, whose versatility stood out in preseason play and drew notice from Kenny Atkinson for the ways he can affect the game beyond spotting up on the perimeter, a profile that always tends to matter when teams are searching for the next rotation piece. [Read more 🡒]