The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a rollercoaster season.

However, due in part to the leadership of LeBron James, they still rank third in the Eastern Conference heading into Monday.

Losers of three of their last four games, James and his new teammates that were added on the day of the trade deadline have hit their first real rough patch as a group. Although Kevin Love remains out with his broken hand, coach Tyronn Lue has been able to mix and match with his new roster in the hopes of figuring out who works out well alongside each other. This might be an opportunity to experiment with a lineup change.

However, Lue won’t have a choice in the matter.

Another frontcourt player will miss multiple games due to an injury.

In Saturday’s 126-117 loss to the Denver Nuggets, starting center Tristan Thompson stepped on the heel of an opposing player, spraining his ankle. Although he fought through the pain to finish the game, the Cavaliers announced that he experienced “significant swelling” overnight, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

As a result, he will miss “multiple games.” This will be the second time that the big man caught the injury bug this season. Earlier, he missed 20 games with a calf injury.

Although Thompson is averaging career-lows in points per game (6.3), rebounds per game (6.5) and minutes per game (21.7), he averaged 8.1 points and 7.8 rebounds in 25.0 minutes over the month of February. On Saturday, he had his best offensive game in weeks, going 6-of-10 from the floor for 12 points along with seven boards in 28 minutes.

Thompson’s greatest strengths are on the glass and as an interior rim protector. While he doesn’t tend to rack up many blocks, his mere presence alone is enough to alter opposing shots. That being said, the Cavs will likely rely on the undersized Larry Nance Jr. to play the five and they’ve also recalled Ante Zizic from the G-League Canton Charge.

With Love presumably out for a couple more weeks and now with Thompson sidelined, the Cavs will have to be extra-creative with their small-ball lineups.

Their next three contests will be a major test. Unfortunately, they’ll square off against three dominant centers. On Monday, Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons will come to town before Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets host them on Wednesday and DeAndre Jordan and the Los Angeles Clippers host them on Friday.

If Cleveland expects to halt their losing skid, they’ll need to get around their glaring lack of size and depth on the interior.