Kyrie Irving Reportedly Returns to Cavs Lineup for First Time Since Arm Injury

Kyrie Irving reportedly will be in the Cleveland Cavaliers' starting lineup on Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic.   

Cavs head coach Mike Brown said the All-Star point guard "is a go" early Wednesday evening, via the team's play-by-play announcer Fred McLeod:

Irving has been out since the middle of March, when he hurt his left biceps in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer wrote that the injury was initially thought to be bad enough that the 22-year-old would miss the rest of the season.

The timing of Irving's return to the lineup couldn't be any better for the Cavs. Cleveland is three games back of the Atlanta Hawks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. If the Cavs are going to make up that kind of gap in such a short amount of time, they'll need their best player in the floor.

This does present a bit of a conundrum to Brown, though. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal wrote that having Irving back would push either Jarrett Jack or Dion Waiters to the bench, both of whom are playing very well at the moment.

Seth Wenig

The head coach doesn't see it as a problem, though.

"I may start Dion, I may bring him off the bench," Brown said. "I’ve said this before: I feel like where we are, I can mix and match a lot of different guys. So I don’t think it’s any different when Kyrie does get back."

Since Brown seems to have confirmed that Waiters is starting on Wednesday night, Jack must be relegated to the bench against the Magic.

Getting Irving back likely won't salvage the Cavaliers' playoff hopes. What it will do is help the franchise finish the regular season strong and give fans some hope for next year. Cleveland could have easily packed up its bags and quit when Irving went down.

The fact that he's coming back for the team's final seven games says a lot about his desire to see the Cavs turn a corner in the near future.