Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas suffered a fractured left hand against the Lakers on Friday, and now he might not see the floor again until the 2016 calendar year.
According to a report by Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports on Sunday, Valanciunas is expected to miss about six weeks with the injury. The 23-year-old Lithuanian center has elected to not undergo surgery on the hand, his non-shooting hand, and will instead attempt to rehab it.
X-rays taken at the time of the injury revealed a fracture to Valanciunas’ fourth metacarpal per Raptors Media Relations.
X-rays on Jonas Valanciunas' left hand revealed a fracture of the fourth metacarpal. He is out and expected to undergo further tests. #rtz
— RaptorsMR (@RaptorsMR) November 21, 2015
Raptors Republic shared video of the play the former No. 5 overall pick was injured on:
That play JV got his hand hurt on was actually kind of nice. pic.twitter.com/CsjwRYJ2ko
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) November 21, 2015
Valanciunas, who is averaging 12.7 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game this season, is one of the league’s most efficient post-up scorers and the Raptors’ leading rebounder. Coming into his own as a defender as well in his fourth NBA season, his extended absence will hurt for an 8-6 Toronto team, forcing the likes of Bismack Biyombo, Luis Scola, and Patrick Patterson into heavier service. Head coach Dwane Casey may also tinker with some new small-ball lineups as a result.
Perhaps with the rise of Kristaps Porzingis, there was only room for one dominant Baltic big man at a time in the Association. For shame.
Image Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
