Cavaliers starting forward suffers knee injury

Wade was kept on the shelf for the Cavaliers’ next contest, a 135-131 loss to Houston. As of now, the exact nature of the ailment has yet to be divulged.

“He took a hit,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Wade. “Praying he is OK. No update yet, but he got knocked out of the game, so we’ll see.”

As Fedor notes, Cleveland has regressed mightily on defense. The Cavaliers have lost three straight contests and have gone just 2-4 across their last six games. They remain the East’s top overall seed with a 36-9 overall record, but suddenly, their grip on that perch feels somewhat tenuous.

Top defenders Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert have all also missed time with health issues of late. Their absences, and now Wade’s, can somewhat explain Cleveland’s defensive slippage. As Fedor tweets, the Cavaliers have posted the 29th-worst defensive rating in January, 118.9, better than all but Washington.

Fedor writes that Wade is their second-best defender statistically, with a 97th percentile in defensive estimate plus-minus to his credit.