A depressing begin to the season simply received even worse for the Toronto Raptors.
2022 NBA Rookie of the 12 months and 2024 All-Star Scottie Barnes is anticipated to be sidelined for a number of weeks with a proper ankle sprain, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Barnes suffered the damage through the third quarter in a loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night time when he landed on Karl-Anthony Cities as he was making an attempt to dam a shot. Barnes was unable to place any weight on his proper foot on the time of the damage and needed to be helped off the court docket by his teammates.
The damage marks one other setback for Barnes after the fourth-year participant missed 11 video games earlier this season with a proper orbital fracture.
Though the Raptors (7-18) at the moment have the second-worst report within the Japanese Convention forward of the Washington Wizards (3-19), Barnes has been improbable.
When he has been wholesome, Barnes has averaged profession highs in factors (20.6 PPG), rebounds (8.4 RPG) and assists (7.4 APG). He’s considered one of 4 gamers within the league averaging these numbers, which speaks to his versatility on the court docket.
Within the 11 video games Barnes has already missed, Toronto went simply 2-9, which says so much about his general significance to the group. The Raptors are going to want extra from main scorer RJ Barrett (23.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 5.8 APG), Gradey Dick (17.9 PPG) and Jakob Poeltl (15.9 PPG, 11.6 RPG) in Barnes’ absence.
With the Raptors positioned towards the underside of the league, the lack of their All-Star ahead throughout a profession 12 months goes to be arduous to beat.
