The Cleveland Cavaliers were red hot immediately after the trade deadline, but after today’s embarrassing 130-120 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, they are just 6-6 in their last 12 games. While I don’t think anybody needs to panic just yet, there have been some clear cracks showing over the past few weeks.

Star Guard Struggles

Donovan Mitchell and James Harden are the Cavaliers best players, but they’ve both missed some time recently and had some struggles when they have played. Mitchell is a career 36.6% three point shooter, but over this recent stretch that percentage has dropped below 30%. For a player that takes over nine threes a game, that number is problematic. Some of that could be attributed to the time he missed with injury, but he’s gone into late season shooting slumps before so it’s still concerning.

James Harden’s averages have been pretty consistent since he got to Cleveland, but he’s had some very concerning performances like he had today against the Dallas Mavericks. Harden finished the game against Dallas on Sunday with six turnovers and just four made shots. These two are the Cavs most reliable offensive threats, so if they aren’t at the top of their games when the post season rolls around, it could result in an early playoff exit.

Evan Mobley’s Free Throw Shooting

Mobley’s offensive struggles have been an issue for the entire season, and remain the biggest concern for the Cavaliers future outlook. The most startling drop off this year has been in his free throw shooting. Mobley was a 73% free throw shooter last year, and that number has dropped all the way down to 62% this year. The Cavaliers were viewed as a major contender this season based on Mobley’s trajectory. Many expected another leap from him this season but the team has gotten a step back instead.

Constant Injuries

This has been a storyline for the whole season in Cleveland. The Cavaliers have used 33 different starting lineups on the year, as all of their stars have missed some time. Jarrett Allen’s absence has been felt since he went out with a knee injury. Cleveland’s defense is heavily reliant on its bigs due to the lack of great perimeter defenders, so when one of those bigs isn’t available the team struggles to get stops and rebounds. Allen should not miss much more time, but the fact that the core four has barely had time playing together makes you wonder about the chemistry they’ll have going into the playoffs.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to win games with key players constantly in and out of the lineup with minor injuries. There has been some good for the Cavs recently too. Max Strus played in his first game of the season Sunday and looked absolutely incredible. Strus had 24 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Cavs, so any concerns about him being rusty in his return were put to bed quickly.

As things stand currently, the Cavaliers are the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, which would match them up with the red hot Orlando Magic in the first round. While Evan Mobley’s struggles have been a season-long issue, I wouldn’t expect Mitchell to stay in a shooting slump much longer, and none of the injuries the team is dealing with right now are expected to be long term. While there’s real concerns showing for the Cavaliers right now, there’s still plenty of time to get things right. I don’t think it’s time to press the panic button just yet.