Lauri Markkanen latest Cavaliers player placed in health and safety protocols

The Cleveland Cavaliers placed PF Lauri Markkanen in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and he will not play in Wednesday night’s game vs. the Portland Trail Blazers. Markkanen is the second player to be placed into Covid-19 protocols for Cleveland, joining Kevin Love.

The NBA overall has had a lot of issues with Covid-19 and players being placed in health and safety protocols over the past few weeks. We’re into Week 3 of the NBA season and the more teams get around and travel, the more players end up in protocols. Milwaukee Bucks SF Khris Middleton and Philadelphia 76ers SF Tobias Harris are a few other big names who have missed games due to health and safety protocols.

The Cavaliers will be without Love and Markkanen on Wednesday, so we’ll likely see a lot of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in the front court. Isaac Okoro is also out due to a hamstring injury, so we also should see Cedi Osman return to a more prominent rotation role against Portland and while Markkanen and Love are sidelined. Even Ed Davis might get a bit of run at PF and C with the Cavs roster thin.