The Toronto Raptors are one of the thriving teams in the Eastern Conference, but they will have to continue their 2015–16 regular season campaign without starting center Jonas Valanciunas who suffered a left hand (non-shooting) injury.
According to ESPN, Valanciunas suffered a fractured fourth metacarpal in his left hand when he was fouled by veteran guard Kobe Bryant in their 102–91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last Friday.
Valanciunas was fouled in the closing moments of the first half and was replaced by big man Bismack Biyombo in the second half, with the latter also starting in his place in Sunday's 91–80 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
After suffering the injury, Valanciunas went through a number of tests before opting to undergo rehab for the injury instead of having surgery, Yahoo Sports reported.
The report added that according to league sources, the rehab will likely sideline the 23-year-old center for six weeks.
In 14 games played this season, Valanciunas is having better numbers than he had last season as he average 12.7 points and 9.3 rebounds in 27.3 minutes played per outing.
Now that the Lithuanian will miss some time, Biyombo is expected to step up in their next games and along him, another Raptor that will likely get additional minutes is former number one pick Anthony Bennett.
But despite missing Valanciunas, the Raptors managed to win over the Clippers on the road to improve their record to 9–6 and go up in the standings.
Leading the way were forward DeMarre Carroll and guard DeMar DeRozan who each tallied 21 points.
Veteran forward Luis Scola added 20 points, while point guard Kyle Lowry had a double-double, tallying 13 points with 10 assists, also having three rebounds and three steals.
The Raptors will head back home, following a five-game road trip and will be hosting the top team in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the Air Canada Centre this Wednesday, Nov. 25.
