Research cutoff: July 18, 2026. Team: Cleveland Cavaliers.
2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 26.0 | .434 | .810 | 2.5 | 10.5 | 4.6 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
Strus managed 12 regular-season games in 2025-26 at 24.0 minutes, averaging 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.8 threes on .443/.778 shooting. That sample is too small to treat as a stable new level. 2025-26 Cavaliers statistics
Role and fantasy profile
- Role: starting spacer/connector in the base case, with Tyson taking comparable or greater total minutes. Strus does not need high usage to fit beside Harden and Mitchell.
- 9-cat: positive 3PM, low TO, and good wing REB; low STL/BLK, low scoring, and ordinary FG% leave a thin profile. Draft range: pick 145-190 or waiver watch.
- Points leagues: deep-league only unless his workload clears 30 minutes.
- Dynasty: Hashtag ranked him 198th in dynasty and 498th in keeper. At age and role, he is win-now depth rather than a growth asset. Hashtag dynasty rankings
Floor, base, ceiling
- Floor: traded into a lesser role, or 20-22 minutes behind Tyson; outside standard leagues.
- Base: 26 minutes with 2.5 threes and useful rebounds, a schedule streamer.
- Ceiling: top 100-120 if healthy at 30-plus minutes with three threes and five rebounds.
Health and transaction risk
Strus underwent August 2025 surgery for a Jones fracture in his left foot and did not return until March 15, 2026. Cleveland announced in early March that he was progressing through final rehabilitation; no current restriction was public by July, but the delayed recovery supports a games discount. Cavaliers medical update, March 3, 2026 · NBA.com follow-up
July reporting also described Strus's salary as one possible route to a LeBron deal. Treat that as a live scenario, not a transaction. His fantasy role could improve or worsen depending on destination.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Two years at Lewis University (Division II) — 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds on .521 FG as a freshman in 2014-15, then 20.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists on .455/.360/.823 in 2015-16, earning first-team All-GLVC and setting school records including a 52-point game. He transferred up to DePaul, sat 2016-17, and played two Big East seasons: 16.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists on .408/.333/.803 in 2017-18, then 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds on .429/.363/.842 in 2018-19 for second-team All-Big East. Draft: undrafted in 2019; signed a two-way deal with Chicago on October 22, 2019. He reached the NBA through the G League and Miami's development pipeline, then moved to Cleveland in a sign-and-trade on July 6, 2023 worth four years and $63 million.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 23 | CHI | 2 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .667 | 1.000 | 0.0 |
| 2020-21 | 24 | MIA | 39 | 13.0 | 6.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | .455 | .667 | 0.2 |
| 2021-22 | 25 | MIA | 68 | 23.3 | 10.6 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 2.7 | .441 | .792 | 0.8 |
| 2022-23 | 26 | MIA | 80 | 28.4 | 11.5 | 3.2 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.5 | .410 | .876 | 0.9 |
| 2023-24 | 27 | CLE | 70 | 32.0 | 12.2 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 2.4 | .418 | .794 | 1.6 |
| 2024-25 | 28 | CLE | 50 | 25.5 | 9.4 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.3 | .442 | .824 | 1.1 |
| 2025-26 | 29 | CLE | 12 | 24.0 | 11.2 | 5.4 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.8 | .443 | .778 | 0.8 |
| Career | 321 | 25.5 | 10.4 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.3 | .427 | .811 | 1.0 |
No traded seasons — every move happened in an offseason, so there are no split rows. Three-point percentage by season: .338, .410, .350, .351, .386, .402, with a .370 career mark.
Fantasy history: Season-end nine-category ranks are not verifiable from public archives for any of Strus's seasons, so no finish is asserted. The line supports this shape: 2020-21 and everything before it was outside standard leagues; 2021-22 and 2022-23 were streamer/deep-league seasons carried entirely by 2.5-2.7 threes and elite free-throw percentage on tiny volume; 2023-24 was his only genuinely rosterable full season, when 4.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds alongside 2.4 threes gave him a real four-category base; 2024-25 was a 50-game partial; 2025-26 was 12 games and fantasy-irrelevant. Points-league value has always trailed the category value by a wide margin, because the two things that make him useful in categories — three-point volume relative to position and near-zero turnovers — are worth little or nothing in points formats, and 10.4 career points is not a points-league base.
Durability: 2, 39, 68, 80, 70, 50, 12. Three separate seasons wrecked by injury. The rookie year ended after two NBA games when he tore the ACL and suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in a Windy City Bulls G League game on December 21, 2019, announced December 23 with an 8-to-12 month timeline. In 2024-25 he sprained his right ankle in an individual workout during the preseason, was announced out on October 19, 2024 for roughly six weeks, and ultimately missed the first 27 games before debuting December 20, 2024. In 2025-26 he had August 2025 surgery for a Jones fracture in his left foot, was ruled out three to four months, and did not return until March 15, 2026 — a recovery that overran its projection by several months. Two of the three are lower-leg problems on the same side of the body, and the Jones fracture in particular has a documented re-fracture rate. A games discount for 2026-27 is not pessimism, it is the base rate.
Trajectory: Strus's career arc is a late-bloomer curve that has already peaked. He arrived as a two-way shooter at 23 and improved genuinely through age 27, with 2023-24 the high-water mark: Cleveland gave him 32 minutes as a full-time starter and he responded with career highs in rebounds (4.8) and assists (4.0), the connector role that justified the $63 million. Everything since is regression driven by availability rather than by skill — his shooting has actually been better in the two injury-shortened seasons (.386 and .402 from three) than in his 32-minute peak (.351), which suggests the skill is intact and the constraint is his feet. The 12-game 2025-26 sample showing 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 threes is directionally encouraging but far too small to treat as a new level, and the assists dropping from 4.0 to 2.0 hints that Cleveland reintegrated him as a spacer rather than as a hub. At 30 with two lower-leg surgeries behind him and Tyson taking the developmental minutes, the honest 2026-27 read is a 25-minute specialist with real trade risk, not a starter to draft on the 2023-24 shape.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia — college stats, awards, NBA path · Hoops Rumors — 2019 ACL tear · CBS Sports — 2025 Jones fracture surgery timeline
Open questions
- Is the foot fully unrestricted in camp?
- Does Tyson start or close ahead of him?
- Is Strus still on Cleveland when opening night arrives?
Related: Cleveland Cavaliers · Jaylon Tyson · Sam Merrill