The Cavaliers may be fighting through their own early-season mess, but a handful of the players they let walk are making noise elsewhere across the league.
Some have settled into useful roles. Others have stumbled.
A few have looked like exactly the kind of player Cleveland could use right now. And one, in particular, has exploded into something much bigger than a former Cavs depth piece.
Larry Nance Jr. has become a real part of the Pacers’ rotation after barely seeing the floor in Cleveland last season. He’s played 13 or more minutes in seven of the past eight games, and he dropped five threes in Indiana’s game against the Nuggets in Mexico City. The steady minutes have given the Pacers a little backbone early on.
Dean Wade’s situation in Philadelphia has been a little different. He missed time at the start of the season, but once he got going, the minutes came fast.
He’s up to a career-high 24 minutes per game, though his scoring has dipped by three points and his three-point shooting has fallen to 31%. Even so, his steals and assists are up, and the Sixers clearly value what he brings on defense.
The four-year, $39 million contract is looking pretty sensible from that angle.
Max Strus is still shaking off the rust, but the early signs with the Clippers have been encouraging. He made his debut a few games ago and immediately brought some juice off the bench.
Through his first two appearances, he averaged 5.5 assists, then finished plus-17 in the Clippers’ win over the Pelicans. He still needs time to get back to full speed, but the start has been solid.
With an expiring deal and a team that isn’t winning much, he could also be a name to watch at the deadline.
Keon Ellis has gone the other direction. He opened the season with more minutes, but that has tapered off, and things haven’t gone well in Brooklyn.
He’s averaging 4.3 points per game while shooting 33/28/25, and he’s making $9 million this season. A deadline move could open more room for younger players, but that part is still up in the air.
Dennis Schröder started the year as the Hornets’ point guard, but an injury interrupted that run. He didn’t play against his former team last night, and his shot hasn’t been falling anyway.
He’s at 36% from the field and 20% from deep, though he’s still producing 10-4-5 per game overall. Once Coby White returns from injury, Schröder will move into a backup role.
Darius Garland has had the highest-profile spotlight of the group in LA, and the results have been mixed. He came in with big expectations and opened the season well, but the defense has been rough and the turnovers have piled up.
He’s averaging five turnovers a night against seven assists. The 21 points per game and near-career-high field-goal percentage are nice, but the overall impact has been negative.
The question now is what happens next, especially with Keaton Wagler behind him and a struggling team around him. Garland has not been the player the Clippers expected.
Georges Niang, meanwhile, has been one of the real bright spots of the season. There was a stat during the 2024-25 season that he had more wins than any other NBA player in the 2020’s, and he’s adding to that reputation with the Warriors.
Golden State is on an eight-game winning streak, and Niang has played a huge part in it during his first season in the Bay. He’s scored at least nine points in four straight games and shot better than 50% in all of them.
His plus-minus over the last seven games reads: +5, +21, +0, +20, +16, +13, +8. After the foot issues that kept him out for all 82 in 2025-26, he’s giving the Warriors exactly the kind of healthy, useful minutes they needed.
“I think George has changed our team. I think he's one of the main reasons our vibe is so good this year.”
Caris LeVert hasn’t found much of a lane with the Bucks. He’s out of the rotation, he’s on an expiring $14 million deal, and this is the first time he’s ever been taking DNP-CD’s after a career-worst season in Detroit. A trade or buyout could still come, but for now, he’s on the outside looking in.
De’Andre Hunter has been steady in Sacramento, putting up numbers close to what he gave Cleveland last season: around 14 points and five rebounds a night while shooting 42%. The Kings are going nowhere, and his expiring $24 million salary could be moved if there’s interest. So far, though, the fit hasn’t really clicked.
And then there’s Ty Jerome, who has taken off in Memphis. The Grizzlies have started 7-3, with wins over the Warriors, Raptors, and Blazers already in 2026-27, and Jerome has been at the center of it.
He opened the season with a 45-point eruption on 68% shooting, then followed it with another 40-point game against the Pelicans last week. For the season, he’s averaging 27-4-5 on 50/38/89 shooting splits.
He looks like an MIP candidate and maybe even an All-Star.
Cleveland paid Sam Merrill. They paid Lonzo Ball.
They didn’t give Jerome anything close to that, and Memphis got him for the same offer. That decision is looking pretty sharp for the Grizzlies right now.
The Grizzlies come to Rocket Arena next Wednesday, and the Cavaliers will keep trying to sort out their own issues in the meantime. For now, they head to MSG to face the Knicks tomorrow.
In Other News...
Cavs Core Suddenly Facing Questions Fans Never Expected
The Cavaliers latest trip through the schedule brought an unwelcome kind of reminder, one that had little to do with standings and everything to do with how shaky the floor can look when the core is off. A loss to Charlotte came with the kind of uneven stretches that make grading individual performances feel more necessary than nitpicky, and the discussion afterward centered less on one bad night than on how several of the teams biggest names looked out of sync.
Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley were among the players drawing concern in the aftermath, while the piece also elevated Meleek Thomas as the games bright spot. Even with the focus on one standout performance, the bigger issue for Cleveland is the uneasy feeling around familiar pillars of the roster, especially when the margin for error shrinks and the questions start sounding less like overreaction and more like something the Cavaliers will have to answer soon. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Just Turned One Ugly Loss Into A Bigger Rotation Debate
The Cavaliers left themselves far too much to do in a rough recent outing, one that exposed real issues on the defensive end and on the glass. Even against a team missing 60% of its starters, Cleveland gave up 100 points in the first 33 minutes, a reminder that the margin for error disappears quickly when the effort and physicality are not there from the start.
A late push from the reserves at least gave the game some life, with Craig Porter Jr., Riley Minix, Meleek Thomas, Norchad Omier and Thomas Bryant helping fuel a fourth-quarter rally. But the comeback fell short, and with the Cavaliers sitting at 5-6 and heading back to Madison Square Garden for a rematch, the bigger question is how Kenny Atkinson sorts out a rotation that has already become part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Bench Is Sending A Message The Starters Can't Ignore
Through the first 11 games, the Cavaliers have had a familiar problem surface often enough to become part of the conversation around the teams early-season identity. Ethan Sands and Spencer Davies both pointed to effort and leadership concerns among the veteran core, with the bench repeatedly bringing a different level of urgency than the group expected to set the tone. It has left Cleveland looking less like a team with a clear standard and more like one still searching for it.
The issue has not been confined to a single off night, either. It has shown up in multiple games, including matchups with Brooklyn, the season opener against New York, and the loss to Charlotte, which is why the discussion has moved beyond execution and into culture. For a team built around experienced starters and high expectations, the gap between the energy of the reserves and the consistency of the veterans is becoming hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]