The Cleveland Cavaliers open their 2016-17 NBA season on Tuesday night in one of the biggest games in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers will take on the Boston Celtics at home after falling behind Boston in the regular season standings last year. Cleveland ended up beating the Celtics in the playoffs, and hope to get off to a similar start this season but might end up doing so without their biggest star LeBron James on the court.
Tyronn Lue on LeBron James status
While some players like J.R. Smith are convinced that LeBron James will take the court in the 2017-18 opening season game for the Cleveland Cavaliers, their own head coach is not so sure.
According to Tyronn Lue, he is not sure that James will be available to play against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
According to Lue, LeBron James was not available to go full-speed in practice on Sunday and only participated in part of that practice. When it comes to the preseason, James didn't practice hardly at all and only played in 30 minutes during one Cavaliers game.
That makes it tough to get him out on the floor on Tuesday night, but if anyone can go full-speed without practice and not miss a beat, it is LeBron James. The only starter on the 2017-18 Cavaliers team that LeBron is not used to playing with is Derrick Rose. The other main addition, Dwyane Wade, made it to multiple NBA Finals with LeBron in Miami.
LeBron James injury status
The good news is that Tyronn Lue also said that he is preparing the game plan for the Boston Celtics game under the assumption that LeBron will be on the court for that contest. According to reports, James rested the ankle throughout most of the preseason, with just those 30 minutes of gameplay as his only test.
The Cleveland Cavaliers star did test out the ankle while going part-time in practice on Sunday, going through cardio workouts as well as some treatment. Tyronn Lue said that the determination on whether LeBron James plays or not will come down to how he feels when game time arrives.
When LeBron James played in the preseason against the Chicago Bulls, it was reported he aggravated the ankle injury and the Cleveland Cavaliers will want to be careful not to make the injury worse just to bring LeBron back for a possible grudge game against Kyrie Irving and his Boston Celtics.
Tyronn Lue joked that LeBron James is getting older "like me" and that they needed to plan carefully with their biggest star. The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Boston Celtics in the first game of the 2017-18 NBA season on Tuesday night, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. EST.
