The Cleveland Cavaliers today announced that Anderson Varejao has torn a ligament in his ankle and will miss the rest of the season. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer Varejao will undergo surgery to repair the ligament.
Which begs the question:
Can the fates hate this franchise more? They suffer through all of their history, get LeBron James, suffer playoff exit after playoff exit including a Finals loss and a bizarre upset at the hands of the Magic, then lose the biggest basketball star in state history on national television. And now this.
“How can this possibly be that bad?” you mask ask. After all, Varejao is averaging 9 whole points a game this year, and his rebounding numbers aren’t anything stellar. He’s a fine defender and can finish around the rim, but is this really that bad of an event?
Yeah, it kind of is.
Varejao wasn’t just the heart and soul of the team, nor its most consistent player under 30. He wasn’t just their leading rebounder and leader in blocks. He was also their most attractive trade asset. J.J. Hickson has gone in the tank since Byron Scott came on, Antawn Jamison’s contract remains an albatross, Mo Williams is fraught with “meh"-ness, and Ramon Sessions still doesn’t light anyone’s candle. Varejao, though, is a veteran big you can rely on, with a big contract (which means you can send assets back). He fills a need for every contending team, and can be packaged with the James trade exception. Now that option is out.
Varejao himself has had a bad year, breaking his face (yes, breaking his face) and having to wear a mask during the year, and being generally banged up as the Cavaliers have sunk from decent to bad to outright horrible. Now he’s got pain, surgery, more pain, and an uncertain future in Cleveland to look forward to without the hope of redemption.
And the hits just keep on coming.