Toronto Raptors Leading Scorer Pascal Siakim Out Indefinitely
Toronto Raptors frontwards Pascal Siakim will escape an unknown region amount of time piece recovering from an abductor straining injury.
Siakim went mastered with an plain groin hurt on Fri eve in a biz against the Dallas Mavericks. He underwent further testing over the weekend, which revealed a right hand abductor strain.
The Raptors will re-evaluate Siakim inward 2 weeks. Abductor strains could make several weeks or multiple months to heal depending on the stiffness of the strain.
The Raptors are 6-4 this season, and currently inwards fifth position inwards the Eastern Conference standings. The Boston Celtics head the Atlantic Division past a half-game o'er the Raptors. The Celtics are the consensus favorites to win the division, but the Raptors are +550 odds to secure the Atlantic crown. The Raptors are +3500 betting odds to win the 2023 NBA championship.
The Raptors are a profitable betting team up inward the NBA this season with an 8-2 ATS record.
Stellar Siakim
Siakim led the Raptors with a career-high 24.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 7.7 assists this season. He posted ii triple-doubles and Little Phoebe double-doubles inward the first ix games of the season.
Siakim dumped 37 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists against the Brooklyn Nets inwards the back game of the season. Last Wednesday, he posted a 22-point triple-double inwards a 43-point blowout victory against the San Antonio Spurs.
Siakim suffered a inguen injury when he drop driving to the basketful against the Mavs inward the 3rd billet on Friday. He scored 18 points inwards 22 proceedings before his exit. Without Siakim and his rim protection, the Mavs edged out the Raptors past 1 point.
The Raptors are ranked #4 inward scoring defence force allowing 106.1 points per game. They hold players that can buoy cull upwardly the scoring slack, but the Raptors testament escape Siakim’s warhorse defensive skills.
In the offseason, Kevin Durant from the Nets was involved inward swap rumors with the Raptors. William James Durant asked the Nets to patronage him and the Raptors were 1 of the few teams that had the right on compounding of time to come rough drawing picks and youth players to concluded a trade. Siakim was mentioned inwards 1 of the numerous potentiality trade in packages involving Durant.
Glue Guys: Boucher, Koloko, Achiuwa
Without Siakim for the next few weeks, the Raptors get a twain of openhanded bodies cancelled the bench that could swordplay a polar role replacing Siakim on both ends of the court.
Precious Achiuwa averages 9.1 points and 7.4 assists per spirited with the second unit. Power frontwards Chris Boucher averages 12 points and v rebounds per biz off the bench.
Glue guys,” said starting ward Fred VanVleet. “We’ve talked near that inward recent years, but it’s really serious for this group to feature those guys around the edges. Chris Boucher has turned into single of those guys.”
Christian Koloko, an too soon second-round cull out of Arizona, averaged 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game inward during his rookie season. Head handler Nick Nurse started Koloko inward fivesome games this season, and wants the rookie to caper with more aggression.
“I’ve got to tour stronger,” Koloko told The Athletic. “The refs are non gonna consecrate me wanton calls. I’ve just got to depart come out at that place and try to dip everything.”
Starting forrad OG Anunoby hinted that he wanted the Raptors to switch him due to the rapid ascension of send on Scottie Barnes. Barnes, the fourth-overall pickaxe in the 2021 NBA Draft, won the Rookie of the Year endure season. While Barnes became a bigger component of the offense, Anunoby saw his role diminish.
Anunoby played great so far this season. He averages 16.2 points per biz as the Raptors’ third-best scorer. Without Siakim out, Anunoby has a chance to plectrum upwards some of the scoring slack.