Cleveland Cavaliers star point guard Kyrie Irving has been fighting through knee tendinitis through recent stretches of the 2015 NBA playoffs. Irving’s injury got so bad, he had to miss game 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks. Irving found a way to fight through it and played in game 4 but the sweep was already locked in and Irving didn’t play too many minutes.
Last night in game 1 oft he NBA Finals, Irving suffered a knee injury that saw him leave the game in overtime after playing 44 minutes. He got tangled up and a non-contact injury occurred, forcing Irving to leave the game. Kyrie went to the locker room and was distraught, throwing his jersey on the ground and having a less than enthusiastic post game press conference. Coupled with his new injury and the Cavs loss, you can’t really blame him.
It appears that the issue with Irving’s knee might go back further than just last night.
Following from Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
There’s been some tension between these two sides for weeks now. Irving’s father and Wechsler, sources said, have been preaching caution with Irving and this knee issue. Naturally, they are focused on his long-term health and have concern that playing on a weakened knee — what the Cavs have said publicly was a bad case of tendinitis — could put him at risk of suffering a greater injury. Going to see Andrews was part of the entire group’s efforts to get a full handle on what Irving was facing and get independent advice on the situation.
Of course on the other side, the Cavs want Irving to play as long as he’s not seriously hurt. As Irving was limping through the start of the conference finals against the Hawks, it was easy to identify some mild friction. As Irving was preparing to get a second opinion, there was a sense he was being challenged to play through it.
It’s essentially a case of either sitting Kyrie so he can heal or play him now, risking further injury, to try to win a title. It should come down to what Kyrie wants at the end of the day. Now with the new injury he suffered in game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cavs hand might be forced to sit him depending on the severity of the injury.
Irving’s camp seemingly has a valid case and concern for the future of his career. The knee tendinitis has caused other injuries to occur to in his right foot and now it might surface in something new, which would be the worst case scenario for the Cavs. LeBron might have to throw on his superman cape very soon.
