SUMMARY
- Scottie Barnes sustained a fracture on his left hand vs Golden State Warriors.
- Scottie is expected to miss the remainder of this NBA season.
With the unexpected exit of Scottie Barnes from the Tornoto Raptors’ roster due to injury, the team’s chances of having any impact in the NBA postseason have significantly deteriorated. As the majority of NBA fans should be aware by now, Barnes is a young and upcoming star for the Raptors and has been the face of the franchise over the past few seasons.
The NBA regular season is quite long and players who participate in back-to-back games certainly have the tendency to sustain injury and miss a period of time. Although Barnes was relatively healthy so far this season, his recent injury has kept him out of the Raptors lineup indefinitely with no clear return timetable in sight. That said, a closer look at his injury and situation is undoubtedly required.
Scottie Barnes has a fracture to the third metacarpal bone of his left hand
Due to the high speeds and impact that NBA players put their bodies through in games, it is really no surprise that even somewhat durable and injury-free players such as Scottie ended up sustaining injuries. However, this injury in particular is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season.
Raptors say Scottie Barnes has sustained a fracture to the third metacarpal bone of his left hand and is out indefinitely.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 2, 2024
During a recent game between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors, Scottie leaped at the rim in order to stop Jonathan Kuminga from scoring. His hand ended up making contact with the feet of his own teammate Emmanuel Quickley as Barnes screamed in pain and soon exited the game.
Upon further examination, it was revealed that Scottie has now sustained a fracture on the third metacarpal of his right hand and is not expected to return for the remainder of the season. This must be quite saddening for his fanbase considering the level at which he was playing up until this point.
Scottie was a frontrunner to win the MIP award this season
Although the MVP award can be considered the most prestigious individual award that a player can receive, the MIP award (Most improved player) also holds significant value and is awarded to players who have taken a drastic leap forward in developing their game and becoming NBA stars.
This season, Scottie was averaging 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists. Since this is a large improvement from the 15.3 points per game he averaged last season, Barnes was a front-runner to win the MIP award this season.