Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley sustained a left ankle sprain during the first half of Sunday’s 122-113 loss to the Miami Heat. However, the Cavs are not expecting their former first-rounder to miss much time.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley sprained his left ankle when he landed awkwardly on Kevin Love’s foot
Late in the first quarter, Mobley dropped in a short-range hook shot. As Mobley jumped a second time for a potential offensive rebound, he landed awkwardly on Heat forward Kevin Love’s foot.
Mobley screamed in pain, grabbed his lower left leg and hobbled back on defense. The Cavaliers announced at halftime that he would remain out for the second half.
The 6-foot-11 wing had four points in 12 minutes of action, while playing briefly through the sprain. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson benched Mobley after he saw him limping later on.
“We had some discussion,” Atkinson said. “I saw him limping after it happened and then limping successive plays. That’s a tough kid. Unfortunate for us. But don’t think it’s a bad one.”
Mobley came in Sunday averaging a career-best 18.9 points this season and was coming off a career-high 41-point game at Charlotte on Saturday. Georges Niang replaced Mobley to start the second half in Miami.
Dean Wade, who was the starting small forward for a second straight game because of Isaac Okoro’s minor knee injury, moved back to the bench at the beginning of the second half.
Mobley is seventh in the NBA this season in blocks
Atkinson thought Wade would be better utilized as the small-back backup center. That rotational change led to an opportunity for Caris LeVert, who took Wade’s place.
Through 24 games (all starts), Mobley has also averaged 9.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, a career-high 1.1 steals, 1.5 blocks, and 30.7 minutes per contest while shooting 55.8% from the field and career bests of 40% from 3-point range and 79.6% at the foul line.
Per Basketball-Reference, the USC product is seventh in the NBA this season in blocks (37), 16th in defensive win shares (1.3), 10th in defensive box plus/minus (2.0), and 20th in defensive rating (107.4).
Best Total Plus/Minus In The Clutch In The 2024-25 NBA Regular Season (Last 5 Mins Of A Game With 5 Points Diff Or Less) :
1. Jaylen Brown — +46
2. Alperen Sengun — +40
2. Darius Garland — +40
4. Evan Mobley — +37
5. Donovan Mitchell — +36
6. Buddy Hield — +35… https://t.co/KxQWUNh0Ik pic.twitter.com/oH6YtWMYJw— Stat Defender (@statdefender) December 9, 2024
“He is one of the top 5 defensive players in the league,” Atkinson said of Mobley. “You lose a guy like that, and we had to play some small ball with Dean at the 5. He was fine, but they just took it to us. We had some spurts because of our talent. But not good enough.”
Cleveland has only one game this week, playing host to the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Most teams have a lighter schedule in the days ahead because of the NBA Cup knockout round.
According to Cleveland.com, Mobley has three days of recovery, without having to get on a plane until Wednesday evening, when the team is scheduled to return home to Cleveland.
