Last month, the when the Raptors and Lakers met in Los Angeles, Jonas Valanciunas suffered a fractured left hand. Still unable to play, the Raptors center was forced to miss to miss the rematch between the two teams on Monday in Toronto. However, he was in good spirits after the game thanks to Kobe Bryant.
During their last meeting, Valanciunas had a shot attempt blocked by Bryant. Unfortunately, Bryant’s swipe for the ball got Valanciunas’ hand, breaking the fourth metacarpal.
The two caught up on Monday and exchanged pleasantries, which included Bryant signing the cast he was the reason for Valanciunas having to wear. As seen in the above photo, shared by the Raptors center, Bryant wrote “Sorry for the break my brother. Stay strong!”
At the time of the injury, Valanciunas was expected to miss six to eight weeks. While that is a substantial amount of basketball action to miss, Valanciunas does now have a keepsake to remember Bryant and his hard foul by.
Photo via: Twitter/JValanciunas
