Raptors will be missing Pascal Siakam for longer than expected

Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam will miss at least another week in health and safety protocol.

The health and safety protocol that saw Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam miss Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets will see him miss even more time.

That’s according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reported on Saturday that Siakam is expected to sit out through the All-Star break.

Games against the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics are part of that stretch.

The Raptors will have to cope with Pascal Siakam for another week

Siakam is Toronto’s co-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game, sharing that mantle with Fred VanVleet. He also shares the team lead for assists with Kyle Lowry, tallying 6.6 per game. When it comes to rebounds, he’s all on his own, averaging 7.5 per game.

Needless to say, that’s a huge all-around impact to be missing for any period of time.

At the very least, the Raptors can take heart in Friday’s performance without Siakam and six coaches, including head coach Nick Nurse, who were also out because of health and safety protocols. They bested the Rockets 122-111 with 30 points from guard Norman Powell leading the way, while Kyle Lowry had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Fred VanVleet hit five 3-pointers on his way to 25 points. Chris Boucher stepped into Siakam’s starting spot and had 7 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists.

The win stopped a two-game skid with losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat.

Toronto is now 17-17 and 5.5 games back of the Milwaukee Bucks in third place of the Eastern Conference. The worry comes from teams breathing down their neck. The Bulls and Celtics are among them, though the bottom-dweller Pistons bring less to worry about.

They will just have to get through it until after the All-Star break when Siakam is expected to return.