LeBron James expected to play in two final preseason contests along with Cavaliers core roster

The Cleveland Cavaliers have played their first two preseason tilts without LeBron James, who was recovering from an ankle injury. Sunday against the Wizards, they’ll be without James again along with their top seven players in the rotation.

That will be the end of the rest, however, as Tyronn Lue reportedly intends to play LeBron along with the rest of the core players on the roster in the Cavaliers final two preseason games heading into the regular season.

Tyronn Lue says that closing the preseason with James wasn’t the original plan, but the ankle injury forced his hand, via Cleveland.com:

"None of the guys have played with LeBron yet, so that will try to give the guys a chance to try and find a rhythm going into the season," James said. "Kind of a different way than I wanted to do it, but didn't expect LeBron to get hurt in training camp.

The Cavaliers close their preseason slate with a game at home against Chicago on October 10 and then a game at Orlando on October 13.

From there, the Cavs will go home and host the Boston Celtics in their opener to the NBA season on October 17.