Scottie Barnes Diagnosed with Right Orbital Fracture
The bad news is upon us, ladies & gents. In the fourth quarter of the Raptors-Nuggets game, while Nikola Jokic & Scottie Barnes were battling for a rebound, Jokic’s elbow inadvertently hit Barnes near his eye. Barnes fell to the floor for around 10 seconds before the play was blown dead and he walked over to a Raptors trainer and embraced them. He left the court immediately. Today, the Raptors announced that he suffered a right orbital fracture.
Barnes will be re-evaluated in 3 weeks, and the Raptors will provide updates to his wellbeing as appropriate.
Really bad news for Barnes, as that’s quite a serious injury. Just have to hope he feels like himself as quickly as possible.
Barnes was averaging 19.3ppg/7.8rbs/6asts and 2 steals per game for the 1-3 Raptors.
Really bad news for the Raptors, who have already sustained quite a few injuries to their roster. RJ Barrett just came back from his AC joint sprain. Immanuel Quickley is still on the mend from his fall. Ja’Kobe Walter is still out with a sprained AC joint. Kelly Olynyk is out with an all-purpose back injury. Bruce Brown is out for his knee. Too many injuries!
The Raptors looked like they might have a chance at finding a foothold in their grueling early season schedule — they played pretty damn well against the Nuggets and probably would have won if Barnes had avoided injury — but with Barnes out, it’s hard to imagine this team finding momentum, let alone wins.
This is also the same injury that Joel Embiid sustained in the 2022 playoffs against the Raptors. Pascal Siakam’s elbow caught him flush on the cheek as he stepped through toward the bucket. Embiid missed a week of basketball, then returned with a mask to play the back end of the series vs. the Miami Heat – though with the burden of the injury he averaged less than 20ppg.
If you’re looking for stuff to watch for during these Raptors games, the young guns are a perfect place to look. As much as the Raptors have faced adversity early on, they’ve had a bevy of interesting performances from the back end of the roster. I suppose we’ll see a lot of Jonathan Mogbo for the next stretch of games.
Have a blessed day.
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