The Cleveland Cavaliers were rolling over the past few weeks with the new additions they acquired at the trade deadline, and then James Harden went down with a thumb fracture.
Days later, Keon Ellis now has an injury to his finger, according to Brett Siegel of Clutch Points.
“Cavs guard Keon Ellis has a non-displaced solar plate avulsion of his left index PIP joint. He will undergo treatment and continued evaluation, but like James Harden, is listed as questionable and will be game-to-game,” Siegel wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Cavs then updated the injury, per Siegel. “Slight correction here: This is a ‘non-displaced VOLAR plate avulsion of Ellis' left index PIP joint.' The Cavs' statement originally said “solar plate,” but the correct term is ‘volar plate.'”
It seems as if the injury could lead to surgery at some point, but as of now, there have not been any new reports on what the Cavs plan on doing in the situation.
“A lot of the time, this injury is described by basketball players as a ‘jammed finger.' An avulsion fracture means a small piece of the bone broke away from the main index finger bone. Those types of injuries usually eventually require surgery to fix,” Siegel wrote.
Ellis was a part of the deal along with Dennis Schroder when they were traded from the Sacramento Kings for De'Andre Hunter. With Harden's injury, there was a good chance that Ellis was going to see an uptick in minutes, but with both of them sidelined, it will be up to the other players to step up.
If Ellis has to get surgery, it's uncertain how long he'll be sidelined, but there's a good chance that it could be for a while. The Cavs will probably want to avoid that, but if there's no other option, then they may have to play most of the season without him.
The good news is that it seems as if Max Strus could be making a return to the court soon, as he took part in his first contact practice since his injury.
