The Cleveland Cavaliers have confirmed that the banner with Austin Carr's retired #34 has been stolen from the rafters of the Quicken Loans Arena. They are currently "investigating," per comments made to 19 Action News and the Associated Press' Tom Withers.

Withers first tweeted the news early in last night's home loss to the Pelicans:

For some reason, Austin Carr's No. 34 banner not hanging from arena rafters. Will check with #Cavs.

— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) January 29, 2014

During halftime, Withers touched base with Austin Carr himself, who now (of course) does color commentary for the Cavs' TV broadcasts. ("Tristan throws the hammer down," etc.)

Carr joked: "I'm coming out of retirement." #Cavs

— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) January 29, 2014

Despite the scoring boost and veteran leadership Carr would no doubt provide, he appears to have truthfully meant his comment as a joke.

As of this morning, Cavs' VP of Communications Tad Carper said that there were no updates on the ongoing investigation but that they had determined the jersey was up during Monday Night's WWE Raw event and was missing the following morning.

Carper said that the Cavs are having another banner made "ASAP" with the intent to have it up for the next home game.

One Sherlockian Tweeter has speculated that popular WWE wrestler CM Punk, who is reportedly walking out on the WWE under mysterious circumstances, has in fact been fired for stealing Carr's banner.

(More on this as it develops).