The Cleveland Cavaliers have been rolling lately, but their momentum is about to hit a serious test. Evan Mobley is expected to miss at least one to three weeks with a calf injury, and the timing couldn’t be more challenging. Cleveland is heading west for a five-game road swing that will stretch over a week and a half, starting Friday night in Phoenix.
Mobley’s absence is a big one. He’s the kind of two-way presence that anchors the Cavs’ defense and provides versatility on offense.
Without him, Cleveland will need to lean even more heavily on Jarrett Allen in the paint and hope for consistent contributions from their bench bigs. It’s not just about filling Mobley’s minutes-it’s about maintaining the identity that’s helped them climb the standings in a competitive Eastern Conference.
Their first stop is against a Suns team that’s been one of the more intriguing stories in the league this season. After the blockbuster Kevin Durant deal left Phoenix looking like a team in transition, they’ve found new life under interim head coach Jordan Ott-a former Cavaliers assistant. At 27-19, the Suns are right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, and they’re doing it with a mix of grit, depth, and timely performances.
That said, Phoenix will likely be without Devin Booker on Friday. Booker sprained his right ankle last week against the Hawks, and while the injury isn’t considered serious, the team announced he’d be reevaluated in a week. That timeline puts him out for the Cavs matchup.
Booker’s absence has been a real issue for the Suns this season. When he’s not on the floor, Phoenix has been outscored by 2.1 points per 100 possessions-a stat that lands them in the 40th percentile league-wide.
They’re also just 1-4 in games he’s missed, underlining how vital he is to their offense. He’s averaging 25.4 points, 6.2 assists, and four rebounds per game, shooting .456 from the field, .313 from three, and .864 from the free-throw line.
Simply put, he’s the engine that makes their offense go.
This road trip won’t get any easier for Cleveland. They’ll wrap it up on February 9 in Denver, where the Nuggets may or may not have Nikola Jokic back in the lineup.
Jokic hasn’t played since a knee injury in December, though he resumed on-court workouts two weeks ago. His initial four-week reevaluation window has come and gone, but there’s still no official word on his return.
Whether Jokic is on the floor or not, Denver is always a tough out at home-and that’s just one stop on a brutal road stretch. With Mobley sidelined and a gauntlet of Western Conference opponents ahead, this next week and a half will be a real gut check for the Cavs.
Before they hit the road, though, there’s one more marquee matchup on the schedule: LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town Wednesday night. It’s a game that always carries extra weight in Cleveland, and it could serve as a tone-setter for the trip ahead.
The Cavs have been playing some of their best basketball of the season, but now we’ll see what they’re really made of.