Cleveland Cavaliers small forward Dylan Windler is one of a host of players in the mix for the starting 3 job in the 2022-23 season. The Cavs have four potential All-Stars at the other positions, but that small forward gig is up for competition. Unfortunately, Windler just suffered an ankle injury and will miss Cleveland’s preseason opener against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, according to Chris Fedor of cleveland.com.
The good news is this is being reported as a “minor” ankle injury, so the hope is Windler won’t miss too much time. Windler isn’t the only Cavs player dealing with a preseason ankle injury, as young star Evan Mobley is currently out with an ankle sprain. Mobley is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season in a couple of weeks, and it seems Windler should also be good to go by then.
Still, this puts Windler behind the eight-ball when it comes to fighting for that starting small forward spot. The assumption is Isaac Okoro is in the driver’s seat for that role, but, again, there are plenty of options. Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff recently named Okoro, Windler, Cedi Osman, Caris LeVert, Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade as possibilities for the gig.
Windler has had a rather quiet start to his NBA career after going 26th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. He didn’t play in 2019-20 because of injuries and then appeared in only 31 games in 2020-21. He saw action in 50 games last season, but he only played 9.2 minutes per game and didn’t shoot well.