Cavaliers’ Irving out with fractured kneecap


Akron Beacon Journal

OAKLAND, Calif.

Weeks of wondering what’s wrong with Kyrie Irving and whether or not he’ll play have come to a definitive, unfortunate end. He is out and won’t be back until next season.

Irving suffered a fractured left knee cap Thursday night and will need surgery to repair it, the team announced Friday. He is expected to miss three to four months, which would put him on target to return for October’s training camp.

Irving was injured during overtime of Thursday’s 108-100 Game 1 Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors after fighting a bothersome left knee for weeks that constantly overshadowed the Cavs’ deep playoff run. Irving was previously fighting tendinitis in the knee, but two sources with knowledge of the injuries insist they are separate and not related.

Irving was examined at Stanford early Friday and an MRI revealed the fracture. He will return to Cleveland for surgery, which will be performed by team physician Dr. Richard Parker.

Irving’s loss leaves the Cavs vulnerable at the worst possible time. They have already been without Kevin Love for more than a month and now they’ll be without Irving, leaving LeBron James to shoulder even more of the load. James scored 44 points, his most in any of his NBA Finals games, on 38 shots, the most he has ever taken in any NBA game in Game 1. And the Cavs still lost.

“There are a few things that you would love to have going late in the season. That’s being healthy, having a great rhythm, and then you need a little luck as well,” James said Friday before Irving’s injury was announced. “We’ve had a great rhythm. We haven’t had much luck and we haven’t been healthy.”

Irving played 44 minutes before fracturing his knee, adding another layer to the scene that unfolded inside and outside the Cavs’ locker room Thursday night. Irving hopped into a private room after the game to meet with Cavs general manager David Griffin, his father Drederick and his agent Jeff Wechsler. After a few minutes, Drederick Irving walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him before storming out of the locker room.

He was pacing outside the locker room venting his frustrations to those close to him. When Griffin tried approaching him a few minutes later, a number of witnesses said Drederick did not want to talk to him and instead redirected him to Wechsler.

The Cavs, coincidentally, have been in a similar situation previously in the Finals and it also involved a Wechsler client. Larry Hughes played the first two games against the San Antonio Spurs on an injured foot before sitting out the rest of the series. The Cavs were swept by the Spurs.

Irving’s injury leaves James as the only healthy starter from the beginning of the season. Love, Irving and Anderson Varejao were lost to season-ending surgeries and Dion Waiters was traded. Still, James insists he isn’t pessimistic about the Cavs’ chances despite facing a powerful Warriors lineup that won 67 games during the regular season.

“I haven’t gotten discouraged,” James said. “I’m excited to be in this moment once again, and I’m going to stay strong for my team, no matter who is or is not in the lineup.”

Since his college days Irving has suffered a right toe injury, a right foot injury, a broken left index finger, sprains to both shoulders, a fractured jaw, a concussion, a right nasal fracture, a broken right hand, a hyperextended right knee and now the fractured knee cap to go with the tendinitis in the knee.

Irving’s loss leaves Matthew Dellavedova to once again try to fill a huge void.

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