{"id":651721,"date":"2026-03-10T23:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651721\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:17:17","slug":"cavalier-expected-to-return-to-lineup-shortly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651721\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavalier expected to return to lineup shortly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Max Strus suffered a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fearthesword.com\/cavs-news\/38672\/cavs-max-strus-to-miss-3-4-months-with-foot-injury\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jones fracture on his left foot in late August<\/a>. Initially, the timeline was shaping up that he would make a return to the floor within three to four months. Well, here we are in March, and Strus is reportedly going to make his long-awaited return shortly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Reintegrating someone like Strus is a good problem to have, as his ability on ball combined with his perimeter shooting is a boon for any team. With the Cavaliers making serious moves at the deadline, there are a lot of things that have changed since Strus last donned the Wine and Gold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There are many interesting lineup combinations and questions that bringing Strus back in the fold introduces. How will the Cavaliers balance ramping Strus back up to playing shape while also configuring the bench minutes for the postseason? How will Strus play with James Harden, and will it benefit Strus to have Harden setting up the opportunities?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The obvious question is whose minutes will be impacted the most by the return of Strus? The Cavaliers\u2019 wing room currently has many players who feel they deserve playing time, with Jaylon Tyson, Keon Ellis, Dean Wade, Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin, and now Max Strus. Tomlin has already been weaned out of his minutes over the last month or so. Where does Strus land in that pecking order?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">These are fascinating and important decisions for the Cavaliers\u2019 coaching staff as they prepare for the postseason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Strus has remained a frequent topic of discussion despite his absence this season. In many ways, he has been viewed as the final missing piece of this version of the Cavaliers. With his return now on the horizon, the team will finally move beyond the hypothetical scenario of what this roster could look like at full strength.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That\u2019s always been a lot of expectation to place on the return of one player.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Still, Strus has previously established himself as an emotional and competitive tone-setter for the Cavaliers. Regardless of what his on-court production looks like over the final stretch of the season, his presence could prove to be a meaningful addition as Cleveland turns its focus toward its postseason ambitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Strus suffered a Jones fracture on his left foot in late August. Initially, the timeline was shaping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,148,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-651721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cavs-injury-report","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","13":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116207435450961121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}