Two injured Cavs players expected to be ready for regular season opener

DETROIT — Cavs sharpshooters Max Strus and Sam Merrill, both of whom have missed the last two preseason games because of injury, continue to make steady improvements.

Sources tell cleveland.com that, barring any setbacks over the next few days, Strus and Merrill are expected to be ready for the regular season opener in Toronto on Wednesday night.

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Strus, the projected starting small forward, suffered a right hip contusion in Cleveland's exhibition opener. While he's been sidelined since Oct. 8, Strus has increased his on-court basketball activity over the last few days. Following Wednesday's shootaround in Detroit, he went through an encouraging full-speed, non-contact session alongside various coaches and members of the training staff without any issue.

Merrill, likely an in-the-rotation reserve given his shooting prowess and training camp performance, started feeling pain in his right wrist at some point during the team's first practice at IMG Academy two weeks ago.

Despite continuing to play through it for about a week with a protective wrap, the Cavs and Merrill ultimately decided it was best to take time off. A source recently described the issue as "tendonitis."

Like Strus, Merrill has been conducting one-on-one and two-on-two shooting sessions, testing the injury and keeping up his conditioning. A source close to Merrill said he is close to 100% at this point and would be playing if it was the regular season. But the calendar has allowed everyone to be cautious, giving the sore wrist a chance to fully recover before next week.

"Both are progressing much, much better," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. "I don't want to speculate but both look good [in workouts] so we will just keep checking day-to-day."

The Cavs play their final preseason game Friday night in Chicago.