Has Dwyane Wade become the NBA’s scariest back-up point guard?

It became clear by the third game of the season that the Cavaliers would struggle to win with Dwyane Wade in the starting lineup. In the 27 minutes Wade shared the floor with Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder, LeBron James and Kevin Love, the Cavaliers were outscored by a total of eight points. While it might not seem like much, it worked out to being a difference of 21.7 points per 100 possessions, which makes them one of the worst lineups in the NBA this season to this day.

None of their issues came as a huge surprise. As decorated of a career as Wade has had, he’s never been known as a pure shooter. There are ways to overcome that problem in today’s NBA, but starting him alongside two ball dominant players in Rose and James, both of whom are inside-out scorers as opposed to outside-in scorers, was not the answer. Wade’s fit next to Rose in particular was problematic due to Rose’s reluctance to shoot 3-pointers and his shoot-first mentality.

The decision to move to the bench ultimately came from Wade. According to NBA.com, he asked to be taken out of the starting lineup for the betterment of himself and the team. In the 20 games since, Wade and the Cavaliers have taken on a new identity. Whereas the starting five of Jose Calderon, J.R. Smith, Crowder, James and Love have outscored opponents by 7.6 points per 100 possessions, their four most used lineups with Wade off the bench have outscored opponents by as much as 35.5 points per 100 possessions in 30-plus minutes together.

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Wade has been the catalyst in the success of those lineups. Instead of having to play without the ball in his hands as a starter, bringing him off the bench with Kyle Korver, Jeff Green and Channing Frye turns him into the LeBron James of the second unit. Not only does his usage skyrocket from 19.9 percent to 24.5 percent — basically the difference between Malcolm Brogdon and Ben Simmons — he gets to play point guard on a spaced floor with four capable 3-point shooters.

“I’m getting a lot of space to do my stuff, to kind of work,” Wade recently told USA Today. “I think one play I had it at the top of the key and I dribbled it through my legs slowly like six times and there was no help.”

Korver and Frye are incredibly important in that regard. 61.7 percent of Korver’s offense has been made up of spot-ups and scoring off of screens this season, and he’s averaging 1.45 points per possession and 1.28 points per possession respectively. It’s a similar case with Frye, who is currently scoring 42.4 percent of his points on spot-ups at a rate of 1.08 points per possession.

Together, Korver and Frye have been on the receiving end of 38.6 percent of Wade’s assists this season. Wade isn’t the elite scorer he once was, but he can still make plays for himself at a high rate against second units, especially with Frye opening up driving lines for him with the gravity he provides as a center. If opposing centers choose to help off of Frye to shut down the paint in those situations, Wade will make the simple pass out to him or one of the other three 3-point shooters.

If they don’t, Wade will take full advantage by attacking the basket in isolation.

Frye scores an additional 14.1 percent of his points as the roll man, doing so at a rate of 1.33 points per possession. It makes him a great pick-and-roll partner with Wade, who scores 27.9 percent of his points as the ball handler in pick-and-rolls. A simple pick-and-pop between them can be devastating, and the Cavaliers have taken it a step further by using that threat to create opportunities for Korver off of screens.

Green isn’t close to being the same level of shooter as Korver and Frye, but it hasn’t prevented him from developing chemistry with Wade. Green often turns into the center of the second unit — at least in how he functions offensively — by rolling to the basket in pick-and-rolls and making himself available for high percentage looks with well-timed cuts when the paint opens up.

The intrigue with Green has always revolved around the versatility he provides as a 6-foot-9 forward who can space the floor, play above the rim and pick apart mismatches in a variety of ways. While he’s never been able to do it consistently enough for him to reach his full potential as a starter, it makes him a dynamic option off the bench, especially when Wade and James are doing all of the heavy lifting.

Throw Green into the mix, and 54.5 percent of Wade’s assists have gone to Korver, Frye and Green. One particular way the Cavaliers make the most of their collective strengths is by giving Wade the ball around the elbow and having Korver set a back screen on Green with Frye spotting-up on the strongside. Since most teams will try to avoid switching out of fear of Korver’s shooting, it paves the way for backdoor cuts.

In total, Tyronn Lue has played Wade, Korver, Green and Frye together for 181 minutes since Wade moved to the bench on Oct. 24. In those minutes, they’ve put up an average of 112.0 points per 100 possessions and limited opponents to 97.7 points per 100 possessions. It gives them one of the highest net ratings in the NBA (+14.3), besting even the likes of Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, Robert Covington, Joel Embiid (+13.2) and Jeff Teague, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns (+9.1).

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It’s explains why the Cavaliers have been able to compete without James for the first time since he decided to return to the franchise in 2014-15. With Wade and James on the court this season, they’re outscoring opponents by 9.4 points per 100 possessions. With Wade on the court and James on the bench, that number drops only slightly to 7.0 points per 100 possessions.

Considering no other member of the Cavaliers has as higher net rating without James on the court, Wade’s case for Sixth Man of the Year is off to a strong start.

Nick Sciria’s Spacing Rating is available at SmartBasketballGuy.com.