Already dealing with an achy knee, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell received some more bad news Tuesday.
Cleveland announced the five-time All-Star suffered a broken nose in the Houston game Saturday when teammate Tristan Thompson inadvertently elbowed him in the face on a play under the basket.
Mitchell, the Cavs’ leading scorer at 27.4 points per game, sat out Cleveland’s 108-103 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
He had a “medical procedure” performed Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic to realign his nose and will be reevaluated in approximately one week.
Mitchell had missed seven games with a bone bruise to his left knee. He returned for two games and averaged 13.5 points before saying his knee didn’t feel right.
Cleveland is already missing starters Evan Mobley (sprained ankle) and Max Strus (strained knee), as well as backup forward Dean Wade (sore knee).
New face
From “couch to court,” Marcus Morris Sr. arrived in the nick of time.
Needing a healthy body in the worst way, the Cavs signed the veteran forward to a 10-day contract Monday. One can be assured that he’ll be on the roster for far longer than 10 days after his 14-point performance against the Pacers.
The 6-foot-8, 235-pounder buried 5-of-7 shots, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, and pulled down four rebounds in 20 action-packed minutes. Morris became the first player to score 14 or more points off the bench in his Cleveland debut since Jan. 20, 2021, when Taurean Prince tallied 17 points against Brooklyn.
Morris, 34, was appearing in his first NBA game since Feb. 5, when he scored 10 points against Dallas while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers. He was later traded to San Antonio, which waived him on Feb. 29. That made him playoff-eligible.