Kyrie Irving’s tough luck as a basketball player, both collegiately and professionally, has taken another unfortunate turn -- as the Cavaliers’ star guard suffered a fracture to his left jaw in Friday’s home loss to Milwaukee.
This just three games after Irving returned to the lineup following a broken index finger. That injury caused him to miss three weeks (11 games).
On the bright side, Irving has been fitted for a protective mask and is expected to play through the fracture to his jaw.
On the down side, he now joins forward Tristan Thompson and rookie center Tyler Zeller as Cavs fitted for and currently sporting protective masks. It’s highly likely that three masks on the same team at the same time is an NBA first (although no such stats are officially tracked).
Irving missed 15 games last season with shoulder and head injuries, then broke his hand over the summer. Also, a bum toe sidelined him for all but 11 games during his one college season at Duke.
He leads the Cavs in scoring at 22.5 points, and assists, at 5.7 per game.
The Cavs are at New York on Saturday. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Ohio HD.
Irving's latest injury was sustained when he took a hard fall in the first quarter vs. the Bucks. He was knocked down and hit the side of his face in the foul lane. Irving was in obvious pain but remained in the game. Last season's NBA rookie of the year finished with 26 points in 36 minutes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
