INDEPENDENCE: The relationship between Mo Williams and the Cavaliers took another curious turn Wednesday when Williams posted a picture to his Instagram account of himself in a hospital bed.
Williams underwent surgery Wednesday on his problematic left knee and seemed to take a dig at the Cavs in the process.
“You know the crazy thing is, I haven’t been 100% in quite a while,” Williams wrote on his Instagram account. “Nobody and I repeat nobody actually gave a damn about my health but me. Taking control of my own career/life.”
Williams was diagnosed with chondromalacia last season, which pertains to cartilage damage in the knee. He was given an injection, but surgery was not recommended by team doctors. Williams sought a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, who also advised against surgery, one league source said. Williams instead went to noted shoulder and knee surgeon Dr. David Altchek, who performed Kevin Love’s shoulder surgery last year. Altchek operated on Williams on Wednesday.
“Wish me luck today with my surgery,” Williams wrote on his Twitter account. “Just found out it’s a little worst [sic], which means a longer recovery.”
Since Williams never filed his retirement papers with the league, according to a source, he still counts on the Cavs’ 15-man roster. The two sides have been unable to reach agreement on a buyout of his $2.2 million contract to this point.
Trash talk
LeBron James was sharply critical of Donald Trump’s excuse that his now infamous comments regarding women were just “locker room talk.”
“We don’t disrespect women in no shape or fashion in our locker room. That never comes up,” James said. “Obviously, I got a mother-in-law, a wife, a mom and a daughter and those conversations just don’t go on in our locker room.
“What goes on in our locker room is sporting events that happened the night before, about family, about strategies that we may have that night, about a highlight that made it happen — if it was a home run in the bottom of the ninth or it was an alley-oop dunk from a player the night before — that’s what happens in our locker room. What that guy was saying, I don’t know what that is. That’s trash talk.”
Familiar face
James won’t play Friday when the Cavs play at the Chicago Bulls, but he’ll still be along to see good friend Dwyane Wade.
Wade stunned the league with his departure from Miami to Chicago over the summer, and while James seemed to take a jab at the Heat over their treatment of Chris Bosh, he said little about Wade’s move back to his hometown.
“I support my guys, you guys know that,” James said. “That was a decision that he wanted to make and I support him.”
James said the Cavs “couldn’t afford him” last summer when Wade was shopping for a new team, but the swiftness with which the Big Three era ended in Miami is another indicator of how difficult sustained winning can be in the NBA. James, however, says he already knew that.
“In professional sports, things can change from one year to another like that, so I’ve always had that perspective ever since I came into the NBA,” James said. “I’ve always known it’s a business and you could be with one team this year, have teammates this year, the next year you might not have them. That’s part of the business.”
Trophy pictures
Fans can have their picture taken with the Larry O’Brien trophy from 3-7 p.m. Friday at Akron’s Goodyear Theater. Cavs entertainment team members will attend, including the Cavaliers girls, Scream Team and mascot Sir C.C. Pictures with the trophy are available on a first-come, first-served basis as time permits.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com.