Cavs: Dylan Windler suffers hand injury in another bout of rough luck

Cleveland Cavaliers wing Dylan Windler will reportedly be sidelined for at least a week.

Dylan Windler unfortunately did not play in regular season game action last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, in what was supposed to be his rookie campaign. That was due to complications involving a stress fracture in his lower left leg.

On the plus side, Windler did show positive signs in recent preseason action, with his ability to affect games as a cutter, heady ball-mover and rebounder, and this coming season, he seemed poised to be an impact player for Cleveland.

That said, we’ll have to see if Dylan will be able to do so, ultimately, and there was seemingly a rough bout of bad luck for him on Wednesday. In Cleveland’s 2020-21 regular season opener versus the Charlotte Hornets, in what was a W, Windler exited his debut for Cleveland in the third quarter due to a left hand injury, and did not return.

X-rays were negative regarding that, per a Cavaliers team announcement, which was a plus, temporarily. Here was more on that from the team, though.

"“Further examination and an MRI administered today at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health revealed a fourth metacarpal fracture. Windler will now undergo a period of treatment and rehabilitation and will be re-evaluated in one week. His status will be updated as appropriate.”"

This is another tough bout of bad luck for Windler and the Cavs.

This, to drive it home, was another rough bout of bad luck for Windler, who again made his debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Dylan didn’t get to contribute for the Wine and Gold in 2019-20, in what was formally his rookie season, and I just can’t help but feel so bad for him.

Windler was feeling things out in his first game on Wednesday for Cleveland, and defensively, in particular, I thought he did some really nice things. This injury for him, even with him set to be re-evaluated in a week, though, is so tough to hear about for him and again, the team.

Windler, who hit 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, and is a polished all-around shooter, and offensive player, frankly, has the makings of being a highly productive bench contributor. That’s even pretty early on, and his 7.8 rebounds per outing in his collegiate career shouldn’t be glossed over.

But despite him not really having injury troubles at prior levels, aside from missing a handful of games at the high school level, he’s had his bouts of rough luck with the Cavaliers, which just stinks for him and the team.

I hope for Dylan’s sake, given how hard he’s seemingly worked to be able to contribute for the Cavs, for one, that he can be able to make his presence felt pretty early on this season for the Wine and Gold, but we’ll have to see.

We’ll of course keep an eye out for the reports about what’s to come for Windler, but again, this is just such a tough bout of bad luck for him. Hopefully Windler can get back into the fold and not miss too much time.