Dean Wade to return against the Knicks

Wade has not played since late January with a bone bruise in his right knee.

Following the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 110-97 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night, head coach Kenny Atkinson said that forward Dean Wade will return to the team’s rotation Friday night against the New York Knicks. Wade has missed nearly a month, 11 games in total, with what the team called a bone bruise in his right knee.

The Cavs also welcomed back Isaac Okoro to the rotation last night after missing 14 games with a shoulder injury. Coupled with the trade for De’Andre Hunter and the signing of Javonte Green, the Cavs are suddenly flush with options on the wing. Now it is up to Atkinson to figure out how to best utilize those players.

“Defense comes a lot down to personnel, your personnel, and we added two elite defenders (Okoro and Hunter) and not we've got Dean coming back tomorrow,” Atkinson said in the presser.

Atkinson did not say if Wade will start for the Cavs on Friday against the Knicks. Max Strus has manned the small forward spot since Wade went down with an injury, with the requisite varying levels of success. In those 13 games, Strus has averaged 9.6 points on 42.4% shooting overall and 36.5% from three-point territory. His hustle and willingness to body up his defensive assignment have been more noteworthy than the shooting.

The Cavs are inexplicably good with Wade starting, though there is reason to make the recently acquired Hunter the starter there as well. Strus has not made a strong case to be the long-term starter at the three, but he may remain there while Wade ramps back up into game action.