On Saturday, Donovan Mitchell returned from a one-game absence from the Cavaliers’ lineup due to an eye bruise, scoring 27 points on 23 shots in a five-point win.
Jamal Collier of ESPN reports that Mitchell sustained the injury after colliding with teammate Evan Mobley during practice prior in the week to the game.
“He was having issues last game, like blurry [vision],” said coach Kenny Atkinson. “It’s not like a scratched cornea, nothing dangerous, but we got to let it clear up.”
Mitchell was dealing with the injury during the Cavs’ win over the Bucks on Tuesday, sporting a bloodshot eye. He went 4-14 from the field in that game, scoring 19 points in nearly 34 minutes.
We have more from the Central Division:
Jaylon Tyson has been a breakout player for the Cavaliers this season, but a toe injury has thrown his place in the rotation into limbo, Chris Fedor writes for Cleveland.com. Tyson exited Thursday’s game against the Bulls early with the injury and decided to leave the game rather than hurt his team by gutting it out. “It’s always difficult,” Tyson said, per Fedor. “I’m a competitor. I had a good opportunity today, so I wanted to be out there.” Tyson’s role has changed as the team added players like James Harden, Keon Ellis, and Dennis Schroder, but he has tried to stay ready and be productive in his minutes.
After missing four months of in-season play for the Pacers, Obi Toppin is back on the floor and trying to find his way to his normal game, writes Tony East for Forbes. Toppin said he was itching to get back on the court, at times getting shots up while riding around in a scooter. “We didn’t want to rush anything, but we still wanted to get out a couple of games just so I’m not going into the summer wondering how it’s going to feel when I’m out there playing real basketball,” the athletic 6’8″ forward said. “So that’s what we’re doing now and everything’s been good.” East notes that it’s unusual for a player to miss 50-plus games and then come back before the end of the year, but with no playoffs on the horizon, Toppin is doing his best to hit the off-season running. Toppin is averaging 9.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 16.7 minutes this season.
Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson is relishing having a second superstar in James Harden to pair with Donovan Mitchell, Fedor writes in a separate piece on Cleveland’s Saturday night win over New Orleans. “It’s nice to have two superstars,” Atkinson said. “As poorly as we were playing, that’s a game maybe with a younger team or less experienced team, you would lose by 25 or 30 on the last game of the road trip.”