Raptors fans can exhale, this is not nearly as bad as feared, but it’s not ideal, either.
An MRI discovered no structural damage, but Toronto’s RJ Barrett has a sprained right knee and will be reevaluated in a week, the team announced Wednesday morning. Barrett already sat out the Raptors’ win over the Cavaliers on Monday and is likely to miss the team’s next four games before being reevaluated and potentially returning to action.
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The injury happened in the third quarter against the Nets on Sunday. Barrett intercepted a pass and had a breakaway dunk, but when he landed he grimaced and checked himself out of the game soon after. Those kinds of non-contact injuries are scary, but the MRI fortunately found no structural damage.
Barrett is averaging 19.4 points and 4.8 rebounds a game this season and is part of Toronto’s uptempo attack — 20.1% of the Raptors’ offensive possessions start in transition, the highest percentage in the league (stats via Cleaning the Glass). The Raptors have a top-10 defense in the league and are particularly adept at running off steams — as on the play where Barrett got injured.
The good news for Raptors fans out of all of this: While the team is outscoring opponents when Barrett is on the court, they are still +13.4 per 100 possessions when he is off the court. Ja’Kobe Walter got the start against the Cavaliers with Barrett out, expect that to continue.
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