The Toronto Raptors will be without their starting two-guard for at least one week.
RJ Barrett has no structural damage in his right knee and will be reevaluated in seven days, the Raptors announced on Wednesday.
The team also confirmed that the injury is a sprain.
The 25-year-old wing appeared to sustain a non-contact injury after throwing down a fast break dunk in the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. He limped down the floor going the other way not involving himself in the play and immediately exited to the locker room at the next stoppage.
“We did obviously some imaging last night, some further examinations this morning,” said head coach Darko Rajakovic before a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. “Looks very promising, very good.
Barrett is averaging 19.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists this season and has done well adjusting his role in the Raptors refreshed offence, increasing his true shooting percentage from 54.7 to 60.4 on lower usage.
“RJ is very, very important player for us, and he does some things that are very unique for him and for our team,” said Rajakovic. “I don’t expect anybody to step up in his shoes and to be different than RJ.
“We have multiple players that can bring different dimension to our starters. Is that more defensive minded? Is that more spacing offensively? I think those couple of days that RJ is going to be out is going to be good routine for us to explore and see what it looks like and who can help us the best.”
Ja’Kobe Walter started in place of Barrett against the Cavaliers, posting a pedestrian five-point, three-rebound, one-assist stat line, but had two steals and was one of the key defenders that helped hold Donovan Mitchell to 6-of-20 from the field, his worst shooting game of the season thus far.
Walter went 2-of-8 but also held Mitchell to 2-of-8 when guarding him as the primary defender. After a cold start to the season, Walter had hit eight of his last 10 triples prior to the game against Cleveland and his 3-point percentage is now up to 40.5.
It stands to reason that a mix of Walter, Gradey Dick and Ochai Agbaji will step in to occupy Barrett’s minutes.
