Donovan Mitchell's injury could not have come at a worse time for the Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a race at the top of the NBA's Eastern Conference, currently sitting at third place with a 43-25 record. It's been a good season so far for the Cavs, but they've played quite a few games without their superstar, Donovan Mitchell.

Unfortunately, it appears that Cleveland will continue to be without the man nicknamed '"Spida".

He missed seven straight games after suffering a left knee bruise. Upon his return against the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, Mitchell was again injured and taken out of the game. 

He missed Monday's game against the Indiana Pacers as well, and on Tuesday the Cavs announced that he'll be out for at least the next week after having surgery to repair a nasal fracture.

"A medical procedure was performed this morning at Cleveland Clinic to realign the affected area. Mitchell will be reevaluated in approximately one week and his status will be updated as appropriate," the Cavs wrote.

The Cavaliers find themselves just one game back of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the Central Division entering Wednesday, so Cleveland's last 14 games are going to be crucial in that regard. 

The Cavs are 11 games back of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings, so more likely than not their best chance of getting a better seed in the playoffs will be pulling ahead of the Bucks.

They also have to hold off the New York Knicks who are two games behind them in the East standings, as well as the Indiana Pacers, who are 5.5 games behind them in the Central.

Basically, there's no room for error here when the games matter most.

If Mitchell is out just a week, he should be expected to miss games against the Miami Heat (twice), Minnesota Timberwolves and, likely, the Charlotte Hornets.

This injury could not have come at a worse time for Cleveland. The Cavs are 10-9 in games without Mitchell this season.