Nick Nurse reveals second OG Anunoby injury impacted shooting

The Toronto Raptors are currently leaking coolant, as they are below .500 one-third of the way into the 2022-23 season. While there is plenty of blame to go around, one player that can largely be considered to be above criticism this year is standout forward OG Anunoby.

No one can register one complaint about Anunoby on defense this season, as he could end up winning Defensive Player of the Year if everything goes as planned. Offensively, however, he has left a little bit of meat on the bone from beyond the 3-point line.

Anunoby is shooting a career-worst 33% from deep this year, which is taking some of the shine off his career-best mark in points per game. After missing his first game of the season, a loss to the Orlando Magic, with a hip injury, Nick Nurse revealed that Anunoby has been playing through yet another mysterious ailment.

Nurse revealed that Anunoby has also been dealing with an injury to his shooting hand that has made it difficult for him to find some consistency. With Toronto struggling to make even 30% of their 3-pointers as a collective unit, this team needs a very quick return from Anunoby.

Toronto Raptors star OG Anunoby has been dealing with two injuries.

Anunoby’s sky-high potential has been limited only by his body being unable to keep up with all of the demands that the Raptors are playing on him. In fact, it was another hip injury that made him miss large chunks of last season. Hopefully, his hand ailment is nothing too serious.

Even the lowly Magic had no trouble getting to the rim and navigating on the perimeter in the Raptors’ first Anunoby-less game, showing how truly lifeless this team looks when he isn’t at his best. Quite simply, the Raptors need to hang on for dear life until he returns to full health.

With Anunoby out against Orlando, rookie center Christian Koloko is now the only player on the team who has played in all 27 games up until this point. While the Raptors have some holes on the roster that need to be filled very quickly, it’s hard to win with so much turmoil.

The Raptors came into the season as one of the most top-heavy teams in the league, and losing all of their starters to injury at some point during the year has only confirmed those thoughts. Losing Anunoby for an extended period due to hand or hip ailments could be a nightmarish scenario.