It hasn’t exactly been a surprise that Tyronn Lue was having issues related to his health this season. Lue has been forced to miss games as he has tried to get his body right, and on Monday morning, it was announced that Lue will take a temporary leave of absence from the Cavaliers. It was later reported that the hope is for Lue to return to the team after a week.
For LeBron James, Lue taking this personal time is a long time coming. The Cavaliers’ star forward has been vocal about his concerns regarding Lue, saying that his health issues worried the team and even said he thought it would be beneficial for his coach to “take even more measures to get himself right.”
James was asked about Lue’s announced leave on Monday and said that he believed doing this was “well overdue.”
LeBron James said that coach Tyronn Lue’s stepping away from coaching is “well overdue. #Cavs pic.twitter.com/l1DW6eaeIP
— clevelanddotcom Cavs (@PDcavsinsider) March 19, 2018
“I think it’s probably well overdue,” James said. “Understanding what he’s been going through throughout the season, so obviously health is the most important with everything in life, so I’m not surprised by it at all.”
Lue’s health issue seemed to be especially scary — as some of the reports who cover the team have documented over the last few hours, Lue was in a really bad place physically throughout the course of the 2017-18 campaign.
Lue has been dealing with chest pains and a lack of sleep all season. He has tried to work through it, to show the players he's got their back, but apparently it had become too much recently
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) March 19, 2018
Key statement from Ty Lue: "I have had chest pains and other troubling symptoms, compounded by a loss of sleep, throughout the year." Team source told ESPN, for instance, that when CLE returned from its road trip, Lue did not fall asleep until 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 19, 2018
I recently told Ty Lue I was worried about him, and he said “I’m worried about me.”
I’m grateful he’s getting the care he needs.— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) March 19, 2018
While he’s expected to return to the team next week, hopefully Lue doesn’t feel the need to push himself to get back. As James said, there’s nothing more important than a person’s health and wellbeing.
