The Cleveland Cavaliers are slowly but surely building a solid contender in the Eastern Conference. But two of their key starters have gone through foot surgeries in the offseason, which rarely bodes well for any franchise.
In June this year, Cavs All-Star point guard Darius Garland underwent successful surgery for his right toe that he injured during last year’s regular season.
Another key starter, Max Strus, injured his foot during an offseason workout. Earlier this week, he, too, underwent surgery to fix his Jones’ fracture, a rather peculiar issue on the outside of the foot that has caused worrisome situations for players like Kevin Durant in the past.
Strus is expected to take three to four months before making a full return to the court. NBA Insider Brian Windhorst explained how the Cavaliers and Strus can learn from Durant’s mistake and not try to rush his recovery by any means.
“If you remember, about a decade ago, Kevin Durant had a Jones fracture. He ended up needing three different procedures. Now, it obviously was healed because he's gone on to have a great next 10 years."
"But in Durant's case, he came back after a couple of months and then needed the screw taken out, which sometimes happens with Jones fractures, that the screw bothers you, that they have to put in to fix it. And you have to get that taken out, then you have to recover from that. And in the case of Durant, he had a re-break.” Windhorst said on the latest episode of Brian Windhorst and the Hoops Collective podcast.
Durant’s Jones fracture happened at the same time as Russell Westbrook getting a dent in his face, and Windhorst recalls talking to a doctor who opined that Westbrook’s face dent was not as bad as Durant’s Jones fracture.
He further added that the Oklahoma City Thunder were doing him a disservice by bringing him back on the court after just two months. Sure enough, Westbrook did not miss any games because of the dent, and Durant had to miss the entire season because of the Jones fracture.
Durant eventually recovered and went on with his Hall of Fame-level career. But Strus need not undergo the trials and tribulations that Durant went through. He’s an important part of an upsurging Cavaliers team, and they need his shooting for a deep run in the playoffs.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps sees him coming back only towards the middle of the regular season.
“No, it's obviously not ideal, particularly this Max Strus news. I mean, Darius Garland hopefully will be ready for the start of the season. But you know, like you said, if you just do the math, if you want to be charitable, Max is going to start working out again at the start of December.” Bontemps said on the Hoops Collective podcast.
The 29-year-old shooting guard averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists last season, shooting at a rate of 38.6% from the three-point line. Last year as well, he missed the first 27 games of the regular season due to another sprain that he suffered during a workout. So the Cavs really need to be careful with his recovery timeline.
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