TORONTO – The injury bug has followed the Toronto Raptors into the new NBA season.
Canadian swingman RJ Barrett will miss the remainder of Toronto’s preseason after suffering a sprained right shoulder in the Raptors’ 125-98 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday. Coach Darko Rajkovic said Barrett will still be busy even if he misses Toronto’s four remaining preseason games.
“They will go week by week,” Rajakovic told reporters at the OVO Athletic Centre. “He will be able to do a lot of different things with conditioning wise and taking care of his health in terms of his knees and strength and everything else.
“When he comes back, we’ll be in a good position to continue.”
Barrett scored in Sunday’s win over the Wizards in the second quarter after going through a screen set by former Toronto big man Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors said in a statement that Barrett suffered a sprain to his right acromioclavicular joint during the play.
It’s the same injury that kept rookie forward/guard Ja’Kobe Walter out of training camp. Walter was selected 19th overall by the Raptors in last summer’s NBA draft.
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“When something like this happens, you have to look at what your hopes are,” Rajakovic said. “What can players do to solve an otherwise unsolvable problem?
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“Is the force wise, is it conditioning? Are you watching more movies? Is one more skill added? “I always try to look at it from a positive perspective.”
Barrett, a 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario, averaged 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 58 games with the Raptors and New York Knicks last season.
He averaged 21.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 33.5 minutes in 32 starts for Toronto after being acquired from the Knicks in a trade on Dec. 30.
Barrett and Walter won’t be lonely at the end of the Raptors’ bench when the Raptors visit the Wizards in their second preseason game on Friday.
Starting point guard Immanuel Quickley missed Sunday’s game with a thumb injury, and veteran small forward Bruce Brown underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee before the start of training camp.
“In a perfect world, we would like all men to be healthy all the time and able to be active all the time, but that’s not reality,” Rajakovic said. “We have to deal with it.
“I think it’s more of a game-by-game process focused on our continuous improvement.”
The wave of injuries comes after Toronto’s 2023-24 season was cut short due to similar issues in March. All-Star forward Scottie Barnes and starting center Jakob Poeltl missed the rest of the season after surgery.
Poeltl and backup forward Kelly Olynyk (Kamloops, B.C.) both said they were disappointed without so many of their teammates early in the preseason. This is because they wanted to build chemistry before the season starts against the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 23rd. .
“The more iterations the better, and the number of real-time iterations is much better than the real thing,” Poeltl said. “It may be a bit of a comeback at first.
“But (Quickley) and I got a lot done this summer. “I think we’ll be back quickly because we’ve put our work in together.”
Olynyk and Barrett played together on Canada’s Olympic team, but the forward said he’s hoping the entire Raptors lineup can spend more time on the court together.
“It’s always good when guys play because we still have to build connections and cohesion, especially in a unit like ours where we haven’t played together a lot,” Olynyk said. “This is an important moment and time.
“I hope RJ isn’t too bad. I hope Quick comes back soon. “It’s just a day and a game to keep improving.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
