LeVert and Wade to miss fourth straight game

The Cavaliers will be without both in Wednesday’s game against the Hawks.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will play their fourth straight game without Caris LeVert (knee) and Dean Wade (ankle) when they take on the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday evening. Both players last took the floor in the Nov. 17 game against the Charlotte Hornets. Cleveland will also be without Max Strus (knee) and Emoni Bates (knee). Neither have played yet this season.

The official injury designation for LeVert is injury management in his left knee. That is the same knee that caused him to miss the last game of the Boston Celtics series last May. LeVert said during training camp that it wasn’t until two or three weeks before camp that it felt “consistently good.”

Ty Jerome’s emergence and LeVert’s absence have somewhat overshadowed how productive of a year LeVert was having. He was playing the best basketball of his career and isn’t far removed from a 22-point and eight-assist performance against the Chicago Bulls where he went 7-10 from the field. On the season, LeVert has averaged 11.8 points on 53.4% shooting from the field and 4.5 assists in 24 minutes per game.

Staying on the court has always been an issue for Wade. Injuries kept him from fully adjusting to his spot within the starting lineup at the beginning of the year. A bounce-back season from Georges Niang has softened the blow of missing Wade, but the Cavs could desperately use his defensive versatility.

Wade has averaged 5.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in the 13 games he’s played this season.

The Cavs have gotten healthier with Isaac Okoro returning to the lineup and making an immediate impact. They hope that LeVert and Wade can do the same shortly.