LeBron James expected to miss 2 weeks with knee, back strains

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have to find a way to get by without their best player.

LeBron James is expected to miss two weeks after an MRI revealed left knee and lower back strains, the team announced. James has missed the Cavaliers' last two games - both losses - due to knee soreness.

The timing couldn't be worse for the Cavaliers, whose up-and-down season is experiencing one of its roughest patches. Cleveland has lost three in a row and four of its last five and are already without starting center Anderson Varejao, who's expected to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery for a torn left Achilles tendon.

Kevin Love also missed Cleveland's last game after being forced out of the previous one with back spasms, while Shawn Marion has been on the sidelines for the team's last two contests with an ankle injury.

The Cavaliers' depth is being severely tested, although the injuries to Love and Marion don't appear to be anything that will keep the duo out long term.

If James is out for the full two weeks, it would mark the first significant amount of time he has missed in his career. The most games the near-indestructible James has missed consecutively is five, which came during the 2007-08 season for a finger injury.

Cleveland's upcoming schedule is going to be challenging - more so if James is sidelined for most, if not all of it. The Cavaliers play seven of their next nine on the road, and have dates with some of the Western Conference's top teams.

James, the leading All-Star vote getter who has been shooting down rumors of bolting Cleveland all week, is averaging a team-leading 25.2 points and 7.6 assists, while grabbing 5.3 rebounds over 37.5 minutes.