Cavs: Season ending injury to Taurean Prince re-opens the door for Cedi Osman

The Cavs just found out their seventh-man off the bench, behind Larry Nance Jr. of course, is done for the year with an ankle injury. The injury isn’t a huge issue and was an injury that Cavs forward Taurean Prince has been dealing with all year long apparently. Despite trying to manage the issue one day at a time, Prince eventually decided to get surgery to clean out the ankle; which has now given Cedi Osman a second chance to be noticed.

For those wondering about Prince’s value in any future trades, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com points out the injury isn’t too serious; as Prince has been playing on it for most of the year, despite the issues.

"Cleveland Cavaliers swingman Taurean Prince will undergo season-ending ankle surgery, league sources tell cleveland.com. Prince, who has been playing through a problematic ankle issue for a while, spoke recently about needing cleanup surgery at some point in the offseason."

With Prince out of the lineup, and essentially taking Osman’s spot in the rotation, the Turkish-Macedonian native should get a second chance to earn his spot.

Aided by this is the other fact that fellow guard-forward Dylan Windler also had season-ending surgery as well, making the Cavs three-point shooters even more limited.

Osman struggled all year shooting but has played some stellar games in between his struggles. With his future in Cleveland very much in doubt after his struggles, this may be the perfect time to see if Osman has anything to really offer.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff really doesn’t have a lot of options either. He’s already slashed minutes for Dean Wade and Isaiah Hartenstein, and now with the injuries to Prince and Windler (who hadn’t played in over a month), a decision will need to be made to the rotation.

Tack on the struggles of Jarrett Allen, and if you look at the Cavs bench players, the only sure-fired guys to get 15+ minutes a night are Nance and guard Matthew Dellevadova.

The Cavs may benefit from a rotation recalibration, with Nance, Hartenstein, Wade, and Osman getting more minutes and seeing less be given to Allen.

Whatever way the Cavs go in their next game, it’ll be a bit bizarre if we don’t see Osman at all. If Osman doesn’t play now, with Windler and Prince done for the season, then there’s no real doubt that Osman will be done in Cleveland come the offseason.