Cavs' depth challenged with J.R. Smith needing surgery on broken thumb
The guard will reportedly be out for an extended period
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1 min read
Just a few days before their Christmas Day showdown with the Golden State Warriors, the defending champions suffered a setback. Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith injured his right thumb in the second quarter of their 114-108 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, and the team announced Wednesday that he suffered a fracture and will need surgery. The Cavs did not provide a timeline, but ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that he will need surgery and miss an "extended period" of time.
What this means for the Cavs:
- Their depth will be challenged. They already miss Matthew Dellavedova's combination of shooting and defense in the backcourt, and without Smith, they will be shorthanded on the wing. His 29 minutes per game will be distributed between Iman Shumpert, DeAndre Liggins, James Jones and Mike Dunleavy.
- Shumpert, who is making a career-high 41.9 percent of his 3s this year, is the only player listed above who combines Smith's defensive ability with his gravity on offense. Smith is having a down year from behind the arc, but opponents still have to pay attention to him out there. That's not the case for the defense-first Liggins, who has started in four of the five games that Smith has missed this year. Dunleavy and Jones are marksmen, but can be taken advantage of defensively.
- It'll be interesting to see whether coach Tyronn Lue starts Shumpert or Liggins. Shumpert has probably earned himself a shot as a starter, but keeping him on the bench would preserve the second unity's continuity.
- Before the season, the Cavs were supposedly ready to go with a "next man up" approach if they couldn't reach an agreement on a new contract with Smith. It never seemed likely that Smith would go anywhere else, but we'll find out what that would have looked like.
