Report: Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley Likely To Miss Extended Time

According to NBA insiders Shams Charania, Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley will likely miss extended time with a left ankle injury. 

Mobley sprained his left ankle last night (3/5) against the Boston Celtics. 

“Mobley has to wait for the significant swelling to subside for an official timeline, but one source said ‘it will be some time’ and another said he ‘will be out awhile,'” Charania, Vardon and Lloyd wrote. 

Mobley has appeared in 38 games this season. He’s averaging 15.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks while shooting 57.8% from the field, 31.4% from beyond the arc and 70.4% from the free-throw line. 

Mobley missed six weeks from mid-December until late January due to minor knee surgery. He left the stadium last night on crutches.

The Cavaliers are 40-21. They are in third place in the Eastern Conference standings. 

Mobley has career averages of 15.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.6 blocks. He was the third overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft out of USC. 

The Cavaliers can sign Mobley to a rookie-scale extension this summer.  

Along with Mobley, Cleveland is playing without All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, who received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to treat a left knee bone bruise. Mitchell will be re-evaluated over the weekend.

One of the top scorers in the NBA, Mitchell is averaging 28.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.5 blocks this season while shooting 47.2% from the floor, 37.1% from beyond the arc and 86.1% from the free-throw line. 

“You’re always obviously concerned, but we’re confident these next steps will be the steps that are necessary [to get him healthy],” Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff said, via ESPN. “It was one of those things where he was trying to play through it, but he just was hampered and you could see he couldn’t explode, he couldn’t move in certain directions because of the pain and how it was limited.

“I’m not a doctor, but from everything that I’m hearing, the time, the rest and the process should give him back to full strength.”