The "freak play" that fractured Kyrie Irving's kneecap and led to season-ending surgery in June could keep the point guard out for a few more months.
Irving's rehab is going smoothly, sources told The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Cleveland Cavaliers will slowly work him back into playing condition, with that process possibly lasting as long as January. Irving previously said on record there was no timetable for his return.
"I'm honestly not putting a date on anything," Irving told the Plain Dealer at his July basketball camp. "People are going to put a date regardless. I'm just continuing to be on the journey I've been on, and that's continuing to get better every single day and rehabbing my leg."
Irving also had been playing through persistent tendinitis in his left knee.
"I think I drove right. I tried to stop on a dime," Irving said in June of the kneecap injury, which he suffered in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. "I've done it a thousand times, and I think Klay [Thompson] ... I tried to get out of it with my knee. I tried to stop myself, and all my force went on my knee, and I believe Klay hit it, and it hit it in the right spot at the right time and fractured my kneecap.
"I mean, I wouldn't do it any different -- like I said on my Instagram post or on Twitter, I don't have any regrets for the decision I made. I trust our organization, and I trust our training staff to the full extent."
This offseason, the Cavs signed guard Mo Williams to a two-year deal and re-signed backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova, who accepted Cleveland's qualifying offer and will return on a one-year deal worth approximately $1.2 million. LeBron James, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and James Jones all re-upped with the franchise.
ESPN Cavaliers reporter Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.