Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry will miss his fourth contest in his past five games Friday night when his squad takes on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse acknowledged that Lowry's ankle is still sore and that the team will not rush him back; although the belief is that he could return as early as next week, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
Nothing structurally wrong with Lowry's ankle, says Nick Nurse, but it's still sore. They expect him back sometime next week.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) March 22, 2019
In place of Lowry, the team has started Fred VanVleet and handed him a significant chunk of minutes. Traditionally serving as their bench ace, VanVleet has taken advantage of his increased workload during his 24 starts during the year (some of which have come alongside Lowry), averaging 13.8 points and 5.7 assists per contest amongst the starting five, as opposed to 8.7 points and 4.0 assists while coming off the pine.
As well as VanVleet, the team also has Jeremy Lin on hand as another reserve point guard. Lin has appeared in 14 games (three starts) with Toronto and averaged 8.3 points per game since his acquisition from Atlanta in February. In sum, they have options to cover the injured Lowry until he is able to return somewhere near 100 percent.
The Raptors enter play Friday two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The two teams won't meet again the remainder of the year, but after Toronto plays Oklahoma City, they'll have just one game — of their nine — remaining on their schedule against a team with a record currently above the .500 mark (Brooklyn on April 3).
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