Cavaliers guard Irving says he’s not ready for return

The injury-riddled Cavs saw guard Iman Shumpert leave Tuesday’s win over the Celtics with a groin injury and he already has been ruled out of the Thunder-Cavaliers game.

Point guard Kyrie Irving, who’s been sidelined after suffering a fractured kneecap in the NBA Finals, had been rumored to be getting back to the court very soon.

On Wednesday, Irving dispelled a report by ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin he would return for Thursday’s game.

Kyrie Irving is set to make his season debut on Thursday. In fact, Irving sitting for tomorrow night’s game is probably the best thing for him.

After the game, Cavs coach David Blatt said that he was anxious about Shumpert’s health, although he did say that his concern stemmed from Shumpert’s injury history and not the injury itself.

There is no apparent joy in Cleveland (this is not news to longtime sports fans), where the Cavaliers have a 16-7 record, which incidentally is the best in the Eastern Conference and third-best in the National Basketball Association though you wouldn’t know it from pall shadowing the Cavs. The shooting guard had played in the last two games after missing the first 21 with a wrist injury sustained in an offseason workout. But the playmaker apparently “still has testing to complete before the team clears him” which has frustrated Irving to the point where he’s “pissed off” at the organization.

He called out the Cavs, saying Golden State “looks more hungry than we are”. Love scored 20 points, and racked 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

Tuesday night’s game was also the return of Cavs forward Kevin Love to Boston. His groin injury is not believed to be serious. ESPN sources revealed that Irving was given green light to play over a week ago, but the Cavaliers are just taking a cautious approach.

The Thunder are riding a six-game win streak, winning 10 of their last 12, and are fresh off a 106-90 victory over Portland on Wednesday.