Though they are expected to get Darius Garland back in the near future, the Cleveland Cavaliers just can't avoid the early-season injury bug. On Thursday evening, the team announced that Jarrett Allen suffered a non-displaced fracture of his distal phalanx.
Allen's left ring finger injury occurred on Wednesday, the same day the wine and gold got blown out by the Boston Celtics. It was confirmed by examination and a follow-up X-ray conducted by the franchise's medical team at Cleveland Clinic Sports Medicine.
According to the organization's press release, Allen will undergo treatment and be evaluated before his playing status is determined for Friday night's game against the Toronto Raptors. He will be listed as questionable.
This is just the latest addition to a laundry list of bad injury luck to start the wine-and-gold's campaign. Already without Garland and Max Strus, the Cavs were without De'Andre Hunter for the first two games because of a knee-to-knee collision in their preseason finale.
Once Hunter returned, Cleveland seemingly lost Sam Merrill in the blink of an eye, as he and Evan Mobley bumped into each other. He left Monday's game with a right hip contusion, although Kenny Atkinson called it a hip pointer.
Add that all up, and every day, rotational players will have to play catch-up to the rest of the squad. At the very least, Allen's partially broken finger probably won't affect him playing; still, how effective will the Cavs' second-leading rebounder and screen-setter be with something like that nagging him?
While this will put more on Evan Mobley's plate on the boards, everybody on the team will have to crash harder and fight for possessions. This was even the case before Allen's news dropped.
Hopefully, it won't take long for Allen's finger to heal, and he can return to his regular self in the paint and on the block. Until that point, however, it will take more heart and focus from the rest of Cleveland's roster.
