The Cleveland Cavaliers are bracing for Kevin Porter Jr. to get “some real time off” after the Cavs rookie suffered a knee injury in Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to Chris Fedor of cleveland.com.
Porter is set to have an MRI on his injured left knee on Monday, but there aren’t high hopes for a quick return given the nature of the injury. The Cavs youngster’s knee buckled when he got hurt and he had to leave the arena on crutches.
Cavs veteran big man John Henson checked on him in the locker room and tried to remain optimistic:
“He’s doing fine, as good as you can be with a potential knee injury,” said Henson. “I don’t think it’s too serious personally, but you never know.”
Asked why Henson had that feeling, the veteran big man smiled:
“Uh, I kind of went back there and looked at him,” said Henson. “His energy. He wasn’t crying or anything. I’ve seen it before. I think he’ll be alright.”
Porter’s injury apparently wasn’t non-contact as most thought it was initially, as Timberwolves forward Robert Covington made contact with Porter’s foot before his knee buckled, causing the Cavs rookie to go down screaming:
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1214003344768995328
Porter immediately reached for his left knee while the training staff and his Cavs teammates surrounded him before he was helped off the court.
The Cavs will treat this injury with the utmost care, considering there’s no reason to trot the rookie back into action right away. Cleveland views Kevin Porter Jr. as a potential building block of this rebuild. The 19-year-old is averaging 8.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 21.8 minutes per game. He’s shooting 43.9% overall and 27.9% on 3-pointers.
The Cavs dropped to 10-26 on the season with their 118-103 loss to Minnesota.
