New details leak on Dean Wade’s injury and timetable to return for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers recently received some positive news on injured forward Dean Wade’s knee, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

Wade, who has not played since March 8, missing the team’s last seven games, reportedly does not have any structural damage in his knee.

Moreover, it sounds like the 27-year-old could return to action in the relatively near future.

“Sources tell cleveland.com do-it-all forward Dean Wade underwent an MRI last weekend on his sore knee that showed no structural damage,” Fedor wrote. “The belief is Wade, who continues to receive treatment in Cleveland, just needs time to allow the pain to subside. Sources say Wade and the Cavs are hopeful he can return to court for workouts next week and possibly rejoin the lineup shortly thereafter.”

Hopefully for the Cavs, Wade’s knee pain will subside sooner rather than later, as the team could certainly use him back on the floor with Max Strus, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley also dealing with injuries at the moment.

Cleveland, which holds the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference, has lost back-to-back games and six of its last 10 matchups. The team now holds just a one-game lead on the Orlando Magic (the No. 4 seed) and a 1.5-game lead on the New York Knicks (the No. 5 seed) in the Eastern Conference standings.

Since Wade went down, the Cavs have gone just 2-5 in their last seven games, but the sharpshooting forward’s injury isn’t the only reason why the team has struggled. Cleveland is just 10-11 without Mitchell this season, and the All-Star guard has been dealing with injury woes of his own as of late.

Without players like Strus, Wade and Mobley available to pick up the slack for Mitchell, the team hasn’t been able to win at as high of a rate as it did earlier on this season.

In the Cavs’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff played just eight players, including newcomer Marcus Morris. The Cavs shot just 42.0 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from 3-point range in the loss.

This season, Wade has appeared in 54 games for the Cavs, making 32 starts. He is averaging 5.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 20.5 minutes per game. In addition, he is shooting 41.4 percent from the field and a solid 39.1 percent from beyond the arc.

It’s a good sign for the Cavs that he didn’t suffer a major injury, but they’ll likely feel better once he’s officially back in action.