[NBA News] JR out of time for up to 12-14 weeks

The Cavaliers announced today that their defender JR Smith has completed surgery and will be sidelined for 12 to 14 weeks.

Smith was injured in the first half of the game against the Bucks on Dec. 21, when he tried to steal the "letter brother" Adkunbo, resulting in right thumb fracture. Typically, this injury only need to miss 4 to 6 weeks. But the Cavaliers revealed that Smith's fracture situation is very "complex", which led to his absence time is far more than expected.

Smith is the season into the league's 13th season, this summer he and the Cavaliers signed a four-year contract worth $ 57 million contract. This season Smith played 21 games for the Cavaliers, averaging 8.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals in a 28.9-minute field-goal percentage, shooting 33.7 percent from the field, Hit rate of 36.2%, which is his scoring and assists since the 2005-06 season, the lowest since shooting a career low.

Smith is expected to be absent for 14 weeks, which means that he has to wait until the end of March or early April next year to come back. Cleveland's last regular season was April 13 at home against the Raptors, the playoffs will start in mid-April.

In this Thursday's game against the Bucks, De Andre - Lijin Si replaced Smith, as the Cavaliers starting shooting guard. "We'll miss Smith, miss his efforts on the defensive end, and miss his key ball," Knight coach Tyler Lu said before Thursday's game. "But we will not make excuses, one guy is down, the next guy is coming out, we have to be ready, and I think our players are ready for the challenge."

Obviously, although Smith's poor performance this season, but his absence will still give the Cavaliers brought great trouble, because now they are only the backcourt Kerry - Owen and Iman - Hong Porter two Experienced players. "The other players have to play their role, not Smith's role, Smith is a unique talent, you can not play his role, you can not play the role of Smith, You have to do it yourself and help the team win. "