INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- The Cavaliers were braced for weeks without Anderson Varejao, already, after their energetic center endured surgery Jan. 10 to repair a quad injury.

On Monday, they learned it would be another entirely lost season for the fiery Brazilian.

Varejao developed a blood clot in his lung Thursday and was admitted to Cleveland Clinic, the Cavaliers announced Monday. He will take blood thinners to prevent further clots for at least three months, and that medication will prevent him from returning to the court this season.

"He's frustrated," said Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant, who spoke to Varejao on Monday. "He wants to play, he wants to be with his teammates on the court. But he's such a good guy. Every time you see him he's still got that big smile."

It's the third straight season that Varejao has been shut down early. Last season, he played just 25 games because of a broken wrist. Two seasons ago, a torn ankle tendon limited him to 31 games. Now, Varejao's officially been ruled out for the remainder of what had been his finest season in the NBA -- his 14.1 points and 14.4 rebounds per game were career-highs in 25 games.

"My heart just goes out to him as a basketball player and as a person," Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. "He's had some bad luck in the last three years."

This time, the culprit was a rare occurrence that struck a week after his surgery. The danger in a blood clot in a lung is that it prevents oxygenation of the blood, and could impair breathing, said Natalie Evans, a specialist in vascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic. Evans pointed out that blood clots are potentially life-threatening, and are the third-leading cardiovascular cause of death.

However, the real danger preventing Varejao from returning to the court is the blood thinner medication.

"It's generally not a good idea," Evans said. "If, for instance, he got knocked down and hit his head, there's potential for bleeding in the head."

Although a clear pattern of missing substantial time has been established for Varejao, the Cavaliers reiterated that they are not concerned about him being injury prone.

"They've all really been freak things, none of them are related," Grant said. "Certainly he's frustrated. We're frustrated for him and with him. We would love to have him out there, particularly the type of year he was having. He's really come into his own as a leader and on the court, so it's difficult. But at the same time we believe in him as a guy, we know what he can do. He's played in a lot of big games for us, into the Finals. We'll continue to support him and try to put him in the best position to succeed."

The Cavaliers have learned to manage without Varejao in the past few seasons, and have used the young tandem of second-year forward Tristan Thompson and rookie Tyler Zeller to fill in. Thompson has responded by averaging 13.6 points and 12.1 rebounds in Varejao's absence. Zeller's performance has been up and down, though he recorded 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds Saturday against Utah.

"In the long run, this is going to be a valuable experience for him," Scott said. "He's going to get a lot better a lot faster having to go through this."

The Cavaliers, now 10-32, are hoping the same can be applied to rest of the team.

"Losing him [to surgery] already was bad enough for us," point guard Kyrie Irving said. "The news got worse today. We wish him the best. We're all going to be there for him morale-wise, just try to be there for him as best as we can as teammates. That's all we can do right now."

Jones to Canton: The Cavaliers assigned forward Kevin Jones to D-League Canton Charge on Monday, further reducing their roster of big men after learning of the loss of Varejao. Without Jones, Cavaliers' big men include Thompson, Zeller, Luke Walton and Jon Leuer.

Grant said he will continue to evaluate available players and look for options as the Feb. 21 trade deadline approaches.

"We're constantly looking at those opportunities," he said. "There's always a positive to these type of situations and for this it's our other guys get a chance to play. Andy's been out already with his other injury, so we've seen guys play more minutes than they normally would be playing, which will continue. We'll look at different options, looking at the D-League and approaching the trade deadline, we'll keep our eyes open."