INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Kyrie Irving could miss the rest of the season with a sprained shoulder, Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said Monday.
The Cavs officially projected Irving to miss 3-4 weeks.
Irving suffered the injury after running into Toronto center Jonas Valanciunas in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss.
A variety of injuries have caused the reigning Rookie of the Year and All-Star point guard to miss a combined 29 of his first 129 games.
Since summer, Irving has suffered a broken hand, broken finger and broken jaw. Scott also spoke last week of potentially shutting down Irving because of knee soreness (although Cavs officials denied that would be the case).
Scott couldn't say for sure how the latest injury will impact Irving's chances of playing again this season. But the coach did admit it could be season-ending.
"We just have to wait and see what happens," Scott said. "If it's two weeks, obviously, that's til the end of March. Then you've got to focus in on these guys here right now. But in those two weeks, we'll have to reevaluate and see what's going on.
"You only have two weeks left in the season. I don't want to speculate and say, 'Hey, if he can get back he'll get back. If he can't, he can't.' We're just going to have to wait until it's completely healed and go from there.''
Irving underwent X-rays on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre. An MRI at the Cleveland Clinic on Monday revealed a left AC sprain. The injury is similar to that experienced by NFL quarterbacks who are driven to the ground and land on their shoulder, according to a Cavs official.
Irving missed all but 11 games in college at Duke with a toe injury. He leads the Cavs in scoring (23.0 pgg), assists (5.7 apg) and steals (1.6 spg).
Scott said he's not concerned that Irving is prone to injuries.
"Like I said a week or two ago, he still is very young," Scott said. "His body hasn't fully developed. I'm just not that concerned about it, to be honest with you.
"All the injuries that he has gotten have been legitimate injuries. It's not something that keeps recurring over and over again. From just what I saw (Sunday), with the little hip check, it was just an unfortunate foul that hit him right on the spot. So I'm not really concerned about it."
Twitter: @SamAmicoFSO
