Cleveland Cavs guard Dean Wade’s most epic regular season performance of 2023-24 happened in a one point win against the Boston Celtics, with Jason and Travis Kelce in attendance. Wade scored 20 fourth-quarter points to help Cleveland complete a 22-point comeback in a 105-104 win over Boston in March.
The team’s X, formerly Twitter account joined in on the ‘Nobody will remember’ meme, one of the latest social media trends. The meme highlighted Wade’s epic 23-point performance with the Kelce Brothers at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, Wade suffered a knee injury in a 113-104 overtime win against the Minnesota Timberwolves later that week, which ultimately diminished his impact when he made his return in Cleveland’s best-of-7 series against the Celtics in May.
Wade checked into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Cleveland, his first game played in over two months finishing with five points, three rebounds, and three assists in 17 minutes. Then, he combined for six points in Games 4 and 5, draining one three-pointer in each of the Cavs’ final two games of the season.
However, Wade has been conducting full on-court workouts in Cleveland and is now “pain-free,” according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor,
“Dean Wade returned to Cleveland recently and is conducting full on-court workouts. No pain in the knee that kept him out down the stretch and much of the playoffs, sources tell Cleveland.com,” Fedor wrote. “Wade took a few weeks off & started full workouts in mid-June, sources say.”
Some of Cleveland’s key rotation players missed the end of its best-of-7 series against the Celtics, including Cavs superstar Donovan Mitchell, who suffered a left calf injury in Game 3. The injury forced Mitchell to miss Game 4 before him and his backcourt mate, fellow guard Caris LeVert, who suffered left knee injury in Game 4, were ruled out for Game 5. The Celtics would go on to win their series 4-1.
Wade finished 2023-24 regular season averaging 5.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game while shooting at a 41.4% clip, 39.1% from deep.
