Less than 24 hours after a heartbreaking defeat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers have suffered an even greater loss.
The team announced today that Kyrie Irving has been diagnosed with a fractured kneecap and will undergo season-ending surgery in the coming days. Via the Cavaliers’ website:
[Irving] received an MRI today at Stanford Sports Medicine Clinic, which revealed a fractured left knee cap. He will have surgery to repair the knee in the coming days at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland by Cavaliers head team physician Dr. Richard Parker. His recovery time is projected to be three to four months and his status will be updated as appropriate.
Irving played brilliantly on Thursday night despite knee tendinitis that’s limited him throughout the postseason. He took an awkward fall in overtime, however, and retreated to the Cleveland locker room following a subsequent timeout. After the game, he expressed dismay at the potential severity of his new injury – pessimism that Friday’s further testing proved accurate.
Multiple reports of increased tension between the team and Irving’s camp regarding treatment of his knee problems emerged following Game 1. With the depressing full extent of his injury now known, expect there to be even more attention paid to how the Cavaliers dealt with the 23-year-old’s nagging knee pain over the past few weeks.
Down 1-0 and a second member of their Big Three, the underdog Cavaliers will face the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday.
