Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers may not be available on NBA Opening Night and may not even return until January as reported by Bleacher Report. The Cavaliers are said to be taking a conservative approach with Irving who is recovering from a knee injury.

The 23-year-old point guard suffered a fractured knee cap in Game 1 of the NBA Finals after colliding knees with the Warriors' Klay Thompson. Sources of Cleveland.com said that he is doing great at his rehabilitation but chances of him playing on opening night are slim to none.

The timetable given for his recovery after he went into surgery last June was 3-4 months. If the timetable is correct, he should be back right at opening night but the Cavaliers want him to be brought slowly to avoid any setbacks.

In the same report by Cleveland.com, the Cavs are "carefully and methodically" working with Irving with the goal of him being at full strength in time for the playoffs. The Cavs lost to the Warriors in six games with Irving and Kevin Love injured.

Irving also does not want to rush things as he has said in an interview at his training camp. "I'm honestly not putting a date on anything. People are going to put a date regardless. I'm just continuing to be on the journey I've been on and that's continuing to get better every single day and rehabbing my leg."

He was cleared by the doctors to take the court and is rehabbing at the Pinecrest Physical Therapy in Miami, Florida. "I only had the cast on for two weeks. Then I was in a brace. Once I got clearance from our doctors that I could actually start working out and put pressure on my leg I relish that," Irving added.

Irving is already a three-time all-star, an all-star MVP and won a gold medal in the FIBA World Cup. He has a career average of 21.0 points and 5.7 assists according to Basketball-Reference.

Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert, and JR Smith will likely be relied upon more by Coach David Blatt. Williams was signed in the offseason to provide veteran presence and scoring off the bench. Dellavedova is a solid back up, and Shumpert and Smith who both just signed contract extensions are capable of scoring which is Irving's responsibilities as reported by Bleacher Report.

Kevin Love is healthy again and can help ease the scoring left by Kyrie. And they also have a guy named LeBron James. He is still the best player in the world and can help carry the Cavs in the absence of Kyrie.

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