Raptors forward OG Anunoby appeared to be nearing a return from his hip injury last week, having been listed as questionable for multiple games. However, he still hasn’t played and was held out of practice on Monday, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.
As Lewenberg explains (via Twitter), Anunoby hasn’t suffered a setback, but he has “hit a wall” in his recovery process, per head coach Nick Nurse. An MRI didn’t show any significant concerns, but the injury isn’t healing as rapidly as the team hoped and remains very sore, according to Lewenberg. There’s still no timeline set for Anunoby’s return.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- Goran Dragic‘s personal absence from the Raptors figures to increase speculation about him moving on to a new team, but league sources tell Marc Stein that the big picture remains unchanged for the veteran point guard — a trade market hasn’t materialized for Dragic, and it’s still too early in the season for the two sides to have a productive buyout discussion. While it’s possible Dragic has played his last game for the Raptors, it sounds he’ll probably remain on the roster for at least a few more weeks, if not all the way to the trade deadline.
- It looked briefly last week as if the Raptors might soon have a fully healthy roster, but that hasn’t materialized, and the team’s depth continues to be tested, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who notes that Toronto ranks last in the NBA in bench scoring. The Raptors’ reliance on their reserves is highlighting the inexperience and inconsistency of that group, Lewenberg adds.
- Chris Boucher was pulled from the rotation for Sunday’s game vs. Boston, with his minutes going to Isaac Bonga, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. As Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun observes, Boucher looked like a major success story last season, but he’ll be a free agent in 2022 and the Raptors will have to listen if he draws trade interest before then.