The Toronto Raptors may have just suffered another injury in the backcourt.
In a bit of a scary moment in the second quarter on Wednesday, Delon Wright reached out his right arm for an offensive rebound and appeared to hurt it as it got tangled with DeMarcus Cousins. Wright looked to be in a great deal of pain and immediately checked out, then headed right to the locker room with trainers and a towel over his right arm.
Wright tore the labrum in his right shoulder (and dislocated it) in the summer of 2016 and missed a large chunk of last season recovering. Replays made it seem like the injury may have been to his elbow more than his shoulder, but the team confirmed it as a shoulder injury, and the video evidence is troubling to say the least. Wright had also appeared to be favoring his shoulder at the end of the team’s last road trip, though this may or may not be related.
Wright was playing terrific before leaving the game, dishing four assists with three steals in 10 scoreless minutes. During that stretch, Wright led a bench group on an eight-point comeback after the Raptors had gotten in an early hole, a fairly common occurrence this year. He entered play Wednesday averaging 8.2 points, 2.5 assists, and 0.8 steals in 21.7 minutes with a robust 67-percent true-shooting.
If Wright were to miss time, Fred VanVleet would step into an even larger backup role and the Raptors would likely recall two-way player Lorenzo Brown from Raptors 905 for depth. VanVleet is steady enough that he’s carved out a role even with Kyle Lowry and Wright around, and the team is clearly comfortable with him manning back-up duties as necessary. Brown is more of a scorer than a playmaker at this point but could fit well with the second unit’s penchant for the transition game and deflection-heavy defense.
UPDATE: The team announced at halftime that Wright will miss the remainder of the game with an undisclosed right shoulder injury and will be reevaluated when the team returns to Toronto on Thursday. That is…not great. More when we have it tomorrow.
