Raptors guard RJ Barrett has avoided a major injury to his knee and will be re-evaluated in a weeks time the team announced Wednesday. Barrett, who missed Monday’s contest against Cleveland, officially has a “right knee sprain”, but additional imaging revealed no structural damage to the joint.
The 25 year old was forced out of Sunday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets after landing awkwardly on a fast break bucket in the 3rd quarter. Barrett limped gingerly back to the locker room and ultimately did not return to the contest.
Currently averaging 19.4pts/4.8reb/3.8ast per game for the Raptors this year, Barrett has been one of the main reasons for Toronto’s fast start to the season. Winners of their last 8 games, the Raptors currently sport the second best record in the Eastern Conference at 13-5. At the moment, they trail only the Detroit Pistons (15-2) who have rattled off 13 straight victories.
The Raptors are currently a top-10 team in several statistical categories to start the year. Most notably the difference from last season to today would be in limiting their own turnovers. They currently sport the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the league, while also forcing turnovers at a top-10 rate. As an example, they had 10 fewer turnovers than the Nets on Sunday.
Furthermore, no team scores as frequently as they do on the fast break. They sit seventh in potential assists per game and sixth in actual assists across the NBA through their first 18 games of the season.
By leaning into what they do well, while maintaining an aggressive, pressure first defence, the team has quietly been one of the surprise teams across the Association this year. Up next is an NBA Cup group stage game vs. the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
Photo: Sandro Halank. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.