Raptors: OG Anunoby injury comes at worst possible time

The Toronto Raptors are fighting as hard as they can to make sure that they can stay alive in the Eastern Conference. Despite going into their matchup against the Golden State Warriors relatively healthy, the latest OG Anunoby injury update sandblasted all of their positive vibes away.

Anunoby was fouled hard while going up for a shot in the second quarter, landing awkwardly on his arm and writing around on the ground in pain. In a year where he has stayed relatively healthy, this is not what anyone around the team wanted to see happen.

The Raptors announced that Anunoby’s night was over after just 10 minutes, as he suffered a left wrist sprain. While he was able to shoot his two foul shots afterward, an injury like this might be bad enough to sideline him for a fairly meaty chunk of time.

The Raptors will likely turn to their collection of bench power forwards in Juancho Hernangomez, Chris Boucher, and Precious Achiuwa to help fill the void while OG nurses that wrist back to full health. In the short term, however, this could be a very harsh blow to Toronto’s morale.

OG Anunoby injury update: Toronto Raptors SF out with wrist sprain.

Anunoby came into this game averaging 17.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game while leading the NBA on steals per game with 2.1 per contest. While his offensive game has stagnated a touch compared to last year, his defense remains as excellent as anyone in the Eastern Conference.

Anunoby’s body has proven to be a serious obstacle to his success in his career. An emergency appendectomy sidelined him during the 2019 playoffs, and a hip injury limited him to just 48 games last season. OG hasn’t played more than 50 games in a season since 2019-20.

The Raptors have been asking around the league about potential Anunoby trades, and this injury might make it harder for them to get a Dejounte Murray-type package back in exchange. On the floor, Toronto will be without their best on-ball defender during a long road trip.

You have to feel bad for Anunoby after this news. Not only has he been underrated for essentially his entire NBA career, but he’s had to deal with a barrage of injuries that have made it next to impossible to get in the groove consistently. Hopefully, he isn’t out for long due to this wrist ailment.