What happened
Cleveland said Tuesday that Nae'Qwan Tomlin has a lower back stress reaction, and the Cavaliers will open Thursday against Philadelphia without the rotation big.
Tomlin is scheduled for a re-evaluation in three to four weeks, leaving Cleveland thinner up front with Mario Hezonja and Thomas Bryant listed as the established backup bigs.
LINEUP CONTEXT
This tightens the Cavaliers’ frontcourt rotation for opening night and beyond. Until Tomlin is rechecked, Cleveland may need to cover backup big minutes with a limited group.
Automated brief based on the linked report. Lineup context is analysis; official starting-five labels come separately from our game data provider.
Original reporting: Cavaliers dealt injury news days before tipoff — Yahoo Sports ↗