Raptors injury report: Luka Doncic, Mavericks could feast on beat-up roster

The Toronto Raptors were not only unable to take down Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks during their tango a few weeks ago in Texas despite a Scottie Barnes triple-double, but they suffered a few injuries that have completely killed whatever momentum they had going. Losing Pascal Siakam has been destabilizing for this squad.

In addition to Siakam being sidelined for weeks thanks to a groin injury, Precious Achiuwa messed up his ankle to the point where he is going to be out indefinitely. Barnes and Fred VanVleet have been dealing with knee sprains and non-COVID illnesses, respectively, while Otto Porter Jr. has sustained another foot injury.

Even though VanVleet might be getting over his illness, Toronto will be severely understaffed against arguably the MVP favorite. The team’s loss against the Brooklyn Nets was ugly at times, and fans might need to brace for a bit more defensive hardships in this one.

Toronto will be without Siakam, Achiuwa, Barnes, Porter, and Justin Champagnie, making the task of guarding Luka Doncic almost impossible. Toronto will likely have to concede 30 points, at least, to Doncic with so many of their best defensive players inactive.

Toronto Raptors injury report: Pascal Siakam is still out.

While players like Jeff Dowtin and Juancho Hernangomez have played well in very limited roles, it’s hard to outscore Kevin Durant when two-thirds of the rotation is on ice. Spencer Dinwiddie and Christian Wood likely are licking their chops to take on a rotation full of backups.

The Raptors are sliding, and it’s clearly taking a toll on Nick Nurse. Mixing and matching to get through a tough two-game or three-game stretch can be a fun experiment, but Nurse has been thoroughly frustrated with Toronto’s bad injury luck and inability to play at 100% health.

The silver lining for the Raptors is the fact that things appear to be getting better on the injury front. Siakam is expected to be back sometime next week, Barnes will likely not be sidelined for too long, and Dalano Banton is on the fringes of returning.

Toronto will likely head into their matchup with Dallas as a massive underdog, making this game a tremendous showcase for the end of the bench. When the team gets fully healthy once again, Nurse will likely make some small changes to the rotation. Playing well against Dallas could go a very long way to influencing Nurse’s mind.