Cleveland Cavaliers

Cavaliers' J.R. Smith will be out much longer than expected after thumb surgery

Published Dec. 23, 2016 12:59 p.m. ET

Brett Pollakoff

When it was first revealed that Cavaliers starting shooting guard J.R. Smith had a thumb injury that would require surgery, the speculation was that an injury of this type would sideline him for 4-6 weeks.

Now that the procedure has been completed, the team announced he'll be out much longer than that.

Smith is now expected to miss 12-14 weeks, according to the official release. That would keep him out of action potentially until the end of March, when there would be only a couple of weeks left in the NBA's regular season.

The Cavaliers have a $9.6 million trade exception from the Anderson Varejao deal they could use to acquire someone who's under contract for that amount or less, but they already have the league's highest payroll by a wide margin, and would be paying luxury tax dollars on top of that new player's salary.

In Cleveland's first game with Smith out of the lineup — a 113-102 win over the Bucks — DeAndre Liggins started in Smith's place, and finished with five points and four rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

Smith, 31, is averaging 8.6 points in 28.9 minutes per game. He’s already missed five games with knee and ankle injuries this season, and his 33.7 percent shooting is the worst of his career.