Cleveland star James Harden sustained a nondisplaced fracture of his right thumb during Tuesday night’s win over the New York Knicks, the team announced Wednesday.
Harden underwent X-rays on Wednesday that revealed the injury. He was ruled out for Wednesday night’s 118-116 loss at Milwaukee after initially being listed as questionable.
Harden, who plans to play through the injury, has been evaluated by a hand specialist and will not require surgery, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. He will undergo treatment and further evaluation, according to the team.
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said during his pregame media availability he isn’t sure on which play Harden was injured and that it’s “a little too early for me to say exactly what the prognostic is.”
Harden’s thumb was wrapped during Wednesday night’s game, for which Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley were also sidelined.
“I looked at his thumb and it looked like my finger when I broke it. So instantly I knew that something was wrong,” Cavs teammate Jarrett Allen said. “I was waiting to see he was going to play through it or that he was talking about it, but it’s just one of those things in this league where people go down, but you have to keep continuing.”
Harden was traded from the LA Clippers to the Cavaliers on Feb. 3. In seven games with Cleveland, the 17-year veteran is averaging 18.9 points, eight assists and 4.6 rebounds. Before the trade, he averaged 25.1 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 44 appearances with the Clippers this season.
Cleveland (37-23) has won eight of its past 10 games and is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
ESPN’s Jamal Collier contributed to this report.