Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been dealing with some injuries to their starting lineup. Both frontcourt starters -- Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson -- are out with injuries. Love's replacement Cedi Osman is now hurt and when Rodney Hood came in to replace Osman, he went down with an injury as well. In the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, that meant the starting lineup was LeBron James, George Hill, J.R. Smith, Larry Nance Jr. and Jeff Green. However, the Cavs made a big change against the Pheonix Suns tonight and head coach Tyronn Lue announced that the Cavs made a huge change to the starting lineup from here out.

The new Cleveland Cavaliers starters

In what should come as no surprise to Cleveland Cavaliers fans who have been calling for a change all season long, the Cavs have finally lost patience with J.R. Smith. In a season where he is playing the worst basketball of his entire career, Smith has been officially removed from the Cavs starting lineup -- and its permanent.

The Cleveland Cavaliers starting lineup against the Phoenix Suns tonight saw LeBron James, Larry Nance Jr and Jeff Green in the frontcourt and George Hill and Kyl Korver in the backcourt. Tyronn Lue said that when Rodney Hood returns from his injury, he will be the new starting shooting guard, with Korver and JR Smith coming from off the bench.

New Cavs roles moving forward

Back in January, JR Smith said that he was willing to take on a bench role with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, he will have a chance to put his money where his mouth is. The starting lineup of the Cavs need to score more points than their opponents since the defense is still suspect and Smith hasn't been efficient at all this season.

This also might just be the start. Not only has JR Smith played horribly this season, but Tristan Thompson is having the worst season of his career as well. While Thompson had started to turn things up recently, especially on the boards, he fell to injury and his replacement is trying to prove he deserves to remain in the starting role even when Thompson comes back.

In the last four games for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Larry Nance Jr. has averaged 16.75 points- and 12 rebounds-a-game. On the season, Thompson is averaging 6.3 points- and 6.5 rebounds-a-game. If the Cavs really want to field the best team, they might want to keep Nance in the lineup when Kevin Love returns and keep Thompson on the bench. The Cavs starting lineup is ever-changing, but they might finally have a winning formula.

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