If the Toronto Raptors are going to avoid just their second losing streak of the season, they’ll have to do it without at least two go-to starters.
Centre Jakob Poeltl has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the New York Knicks due to lower-back injury management, the team announced.
The Austrian big man has missed five appearances this season due to a lingering back issue, and since returning from an early three-game absence in late October, he has yet to play in both games of a back-to-back.
In the Raptors’ streak-busting loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night, Poeltl played 32 minutes and logged a near triple-double of eight points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and two steals to go with 4-of-6 shooting.
The 30-year-old is averaging 10.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting a career-best 72.8 per cent from the field through 15 games, albeit on his lowest field-goal attempts per game since the 2020-21 season.
Poeltl won’t be the only missing starter on Sunday, as RJ Barrett (right-knee sprain) remains out as the Raptors take on his former squad. Toronto’s offence has looked far more one-note without the Canadian guard’s ability to punctuate advantages created around him — the Raptors’ offensive rating is last in the league in three straight games without Barrett — and the burden of that absence was noticed in abundance down the stretch against the Hornets.
Most notably for Ingram, who’s been relied upon even more to make something out of nothing on a possession-by-possession basis without Barrett. He finished the game against the Hornets on a 0-of-9 cold spell from the field as the Raptors were outscored 30-11 in the final 11 minutes en route to blowing a 12-point fourth-quarter lead.
Meanwhile, the Raptors will be getting some reinforcements in the form of Jonathan Mogbo, who the team recalled from assignment earlier on Sunday. And while the backup big has been the odd man out in the forward rotation thus far, averaging just five in seven NBA games this season, he’s rejoining the team on a high note — hopefully to make the most of an opportunity should present itself with Poeltl absent.
Last year’s 31st overall pick is coming off his best G League game of the season, racking up 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in a blowout win against the Long Island Nets on Saturday. Mogbo helped the Raptors 905 extend their franchise-best start to the season to seven consecutive wins.
And while he presumably won’t be with the junior dinos as they look to improve to 8-0 in a rematch against the Nets on Monday, two-way players Alijah Martin and A.J. Lawson will be sticking with the 905, as the trio have been ruled out for the NBA Raptors’ game against the Knicks. As for Chucky Hepburn, he appears to be active against the Knicks.
Toronto (14-6) visits New York (12-6) for the first time this season on Sunday, taking on a Knicks squad that’s won three consecutive games and is just 1.0 game back of the Raptors for the No. 2-seed in the Eastern Conference. The Atlantic Division matchup will be a preview of an upcoming NBA Cup quarterfinals tilt between the two squads on Dec. 9 in Toronto.
