The Toronto Raptors will have to play the rest of the 2016-17 NBA regular season without point guard Kyle Lowry, as he will undergo wrist surgery.
The Toronto Raptors may have dealt for Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker before the NBA trade deadline last week, but that may not be enough to help the fourth-place Raptors creep up the Eastern Conference standings.
According to the official Twitter account of the Raptors media relations, All-Star point guard “Kyle Lowry [will] undergo surgery Tuesday morning to remove loose bodies from right wrist.” The Raptors anticipate Lowry will be back in time for the 2017 Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Lowry last played for the Raptors on Feb. 15, right before the All-Star Game in New Orleans. Did Lowry hurt his wrist in a glorified exhibition in New Orleans last weekend? Or is this strictly precautionary, as Lowry wouldn’t be able to play through pain in his wrist for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs?
Either way, the news of Lowry’s surgery does not bode well for Toronto’s quest to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Raptors find themselves at 35-24 through 59 regular season games. They are only 2.5 games up on the Atlanta Hawks (32-26) for home court advantage in the first round.
Toronto will likely need more than a first-round home court advantage to ensure an Eastern Conference Finals rematch with the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. The Boston Celtics (38-21) and the Washington Wizards (34-23) lead the Raptors by three games and mere percentage points in the Eastern Conference standings, respectively.
Next: Which NBA players can help you survive the zombie apocalypse?
Toronto should still make the playoffs even without Lowry for the next 23 regular season games. However, the Raptors could lose home court advantage very quickly. Lowry is one of the better point guards in the NBA. His absence will be felt by the Raptors going forward.