The Cleveland Cavaliers have just under two months to work on the team’s chemistry, which will be hard without forward Kevin Love, who is dealing with a broken hand. On Thursday morning, however, some encouraging signs came when Love was seen without a cast on his injured hand during the team’s shootaround at the Cleveland Clinic courts.
Per Quenton Albertie of King James Gospel and NEO Sports Insiders:
Love, now 29 years of age, has been out of commission since Jan. 30 due to a fractured bone in his left hand. He did not require surgery, but was expected to miss somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 weeks. Now, however, it’s sounding more and more like the 6-10 double-double machine is on the fast track to recovery.
Love has played in 48 games with the Cavs this season, averaging 17.9 points on 46.3 percent shooting from the field (40.4 percent from beyond the arc), 9.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists — all while knocking down 88.3 percent of his free-throws.
Earlier this week, Love joined ESPN’s Rachel Nichols on an episode of The Jump. Amid their discussion, the former UCLA standout gave a bit of an injury update.
“They said 6-8 weeks. How is it going with recovery?” Nichols asked Love.
“It’s going well,” Love replied. “I won’t be out of this removable cast for another two weeks, but I’m hoping to be back right when the doctors said. They said the timeline is about 6-8 weeks. They try to air on the side of caution. Hopefully, I’ll be back before the eight (weeks). I’m excited to get back with this new team.”
With Love out due to his injury and an influx of four new players, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue has changed his starting rotation a bit (George Hill, J.R. Smith, Cedi Osman, LeBron James, and Tristan Thompson). Following Thursday’s practice session at Cleveland Clinic Courts, coach Lue noted that he won’t be making any changes for now.
Jason Miller/Getty Images
The Cavs, now the 3rd-ranked team in the Eastern Conference standings with a 34-22 overall record, have won four straight games. Without a doubt, they’ll be looking to keep that momentum rolling. Their first shot at continued success comes on Thursday night, as Cleveland is scheduled to host the Washington Wizards inside Quicken Loans Arena. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. EST with TNT and FOX Sports Ohio having live broadcast coverage.