Toronto Raptors should not rush OG Anunoby back to action

OG Anunoby will not need surgery on his fractured finger, but the Toronto Raptors still need to be careful about how they plan out his return.

The Toronto Raptors received a positive injury update on Monday regarding OG Anunoby. The small forward will not require surgery on his fractured right ring finger.

As per TSN‘s Josh Lewenberg, the hand specialist Anunoby saw in Los Angeles said his fractured finger should be fully healed within the next two weeks. In fact, he could potentially be back sooner.

Pending his recovery, the Raptors are reviewing whether Anunoby can play through the injury, given he is still experiencing pain. However, you can make an argument they should not put him in a potentially compromising position, despite having the best season of his five-year NBA career.

While appreciating that Fred VanVleet has also missed time with a right knee injury, now is not the time to rush him teammate back. The Raptors remain well-placed for a playoff spot, especially after back-to-back wins over the struggling Brooklyn Nets.

The main reason Toronto should be prudent with Anunoby, comes down to his form of late. Consider that February was his worst shooting month of the season, averaging just 12.4 points per contest on 41.7 percent field goal attempts.

In fairness to the 2017 23rd overall draft pick, this was likely down to him experiencing soreness in his finger for some time. However, it was only last week that an X-Ray discovered the fracture.

When combining the fracture with his recent shooting woes, it makes sense to hold Anunoby out of action until his finger is completely recovered. While appreciating Toronto are missing his stellar shutdown defence, it is better to have him fully healthy come playoff time.

Although the Raptors do not have a Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry or LeBron James, they can still cause plenty of problems for opponents. In this respect, Anunoby makes up part of a dangerous trio which includes VanVleet and Pascal Siakam.

The enticing thing about the 24-year-old London, England native is that he still has plenty of upside. Barring injury, he has a long NBA career ahead of him, which makes it even more important for the Raptors to take a patient approach with one of their key assets.

For the season, Anunboy is averaging career-highs of 17.5 points and 2.6 assists. As of Wednesday morning, he is also equaling his career-bests of 5.5 total rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest.

Are you confident about the Toronto Raptors being able to continue winning without Anunoby, or are you eager to see him return to action? Let us know in the comments section below.