Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens have earned their place on the roster

The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up the contracts of Dean Wade & Lamar Stevens.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have made the decision to pick up and guarantee the contracts for Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens for the rest of the 2021-2022 NBA season. While there wasn’t a lot of doubt about whether or not the duo would be released to make room for other potential free agents, the fact that the Cavaliers picked up their deals is a sign that both Wade and Stevens have shown up and shown out this year.

Wade and Stevens have mostly been reservists on the team, only getting minutes when guys like Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Love, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, or others have missed time. Despite this, players like Stevens and Wade have become invaluable for teams during the COVID-19 era, where guys can miss a week or two at a drop of a hat. Having valuable reservists like them allows the Cavs to have some breathing room in the event things go sideways.

More now than ever teams in the NBA have to have guys like them who know the system, know their roles, and know what they have to do. Integrating free agents and asking them to not only do a specific role on the team but buy into the team’s overall structure isn’t always an easy thing to do.

Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade are integral to the Cleveland Cavaliers season.

Stevens and Wade are unique players, versatile to play across the three, four, and five spots in a rotation. Neither guy is putting up especially flashy stats, but both have done enough to be valuable pieces in the event someone goes down.

Stevens is averaging 3.8 points, and 2.0 rebounds per game, with a RAPTOR offensive score of -1.7 and a RAPTOR score grade of -0.9. Again, not great numbers but the experience within the system is invaluable.

Wade is averaging 5.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while putting up a RAPTOR offensive score of -0.9 and a defensive RAPTOR of 0.0.