The Cleveland Cavaliers must be kicking themselves a little bit for not trading Anderson Varejao when they had the chance. Varejao was the hottest commodity on the market only a few weeks ago when he was hitting 15 and 15 almost every night.
Now a knee injury that the team originally thought would keep him out just a couple of days, looks to be much more severe.
Varejao is going to have surgery today (Thursday) to repair a right knee contusion and he could be out for six to eight weeks.
Obviously the Cavs are not psychic and could not predict this, but Varejao is no stranger to injuries. He has only played more than 60 games in a season three times in his eight-year career.
The team did not get any offers worth considering while Varejao was healthy, and now they surely will not get any while he is recovering from knee surgery.
If you want to find a bright spot in all of this for the Cavs, they are a young team always looking to find experience for first- and second-year players. They will get that opportunity with Varejao out.
Both rookie center Tyler Zeller and sophomore power forward Tristan Thompson are going to see a big increase in minutes.
In fact, perhaps inspired by the news of Varejao’s surgery, the Cavs, Thompson and Zeller all performed extremely well last night against the Atlanta Hawks. Thompson went for 11 points and 14 rebounds and Zeller had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the Cavs’ 99-83 home blowout against the fifth seed in the East.
So we will most likely see Anderson Varejao in a Cavs uniform when he comes back from surgery in a couple months. One of the guys who was highest on the list of most likely trades will now sit on the bench in street clothes for a while and wonder what his future holds. If he comes back from the injury and puts up similar stats, we can pick up the trade rumors right where we left off.
Image: USA Today
