Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill caught an unfortunate break on Monday night, injuring his right hip against the Detroit Pistons in the third quarter. He was hurt on a play in the first half where he came up holding his hip, but continued to play through it until the Cavs made the call to err on the side of caution.

“He's hurting,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said after the team's 116-95 win. “When Sam can't come back in the game, it's [painful]. I think Evan [Mobley] actually hit him in the hip. Somehow they [collided]. Looks like a hip pointer. Those are painful, so we'll see. But he's hurting right now.”

This is ill-timed, given Merrill's productive first week of the 2025-26 season, so hopefully this hip setback won't linger long. He already dealt with an abductor injury

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