What OG Anunoby missing time means for the Raptors

Imman and Yasmin discuss what changes with OG Anunoby out, the league-wide love DeMar DeRozan is receiving, LeBron James putting pressure on the Lakers front office and All-Star Weekend takeaways.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: Some bummer of a news because we've been talking so highly about DeMar DeRozan. OG Anunoby. He has fractured his right finger and will be out tonight against the Charlotte Hornets. I'm going to be honest, I can't remember what game it was. It was right before the All-Star break.

Now, we don't know when he fractured his finger. But right before the All-Star break, I remember watching the game, and OGHeadband1 just reminded me of it today on Twitter. He was getting his finger kind of shoelaced up similar to how DeMar had it, and they don't know which digit it was.

So I don't know if it was his ring finger on his right hand or what. But that did happen. So this could be an injury that's happened prior to the break. We don't know. What are your thoughts on OG?

YASMIN DUALE: Yeah, it's a bummer. We saw-- we had a glimpse of how great this team is with everyone healthy. So it just sucks that it's nipped in the bud so immediately after like, oh, winning streak and everything. But yeah, OG is like-- defensively, he's the-- he's such a anchor for the team-- defending centers and everything and being so versatile.

So hopefully, they're able to make up for the roles that he plays. He wears many hats defensively on the court. He provides spacing in those second units where they run Pascal, OG, and just a bunch of bench guys who can't shoot like Precious and Dalano and everyone. And those lineups have been phenomenal. They've been so wicked.

So I guess the good side is that we get to have Precious start which is-- hopefully, Precious start instead of Khem because I really like that starting lineup with Precious in it. But yeah, OG is just so important to this spacing, to the defense. So hopefully, they're able to stay afloat during the next stretch, which I believe, is a little easier before it gets tough again or-- I don't recall. But--

IMMAN ADAN: No, it's the--

YASMIN DUALE: --it's not going to be--

IMMAN ADAN: --Hornets and the Hawks are the next two games which are teams that are right in the playing sort of--

YASMIN DUALE: Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: [INAUDIBLE] Raptors. But the Raptors should feel confident not they're better than-- I would say this is probably why you bring in a guy like Thaddeus Young. It's another body, right?

YASMIN DUALE: Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: So it's going to be huge that the Raptors have more people. It's unfortunate that like Fred might also be out tonight with some knee soreness. And for OG, just looking at the numbers, he was shooting terribly in those last few games before the All-Star break so kind of makes sense that there might have been something wrong with his hand.

I don't know. It's all speculation. We don't know when he got injured. But just looking at 1 of 5 shooting, that's not very characteristic of an OG Anunoby game. So it makes sense that possibly something was bothering him. I hope it heals. I hope he gets better faster. This is the reason why we have Thad Young, though.

And hopefully-- yeah, hopefully, the Raptors can stay afloat because it kind of scares me that the Raptors are so thin, not because it's like, oh, what are they going to do come playoffs? But because when one guy goes down, everyone has to overextend themselves, which means someone else is likely to go down as well. So hopefully, that's not the case with the Raptors. They face the Charlotte Hornets tonight. Predictions for the game?

YASMIN DUALE: Predictions, I think they'll handle it. The Hornets have their defenses pretty nonexistent. But their offense is pretty-- it's among the better ones in the NBA. I love seeing LaMelo play. I love seeing how they go about guarding him because I feel like they throw everything. I have-- you'll see Pascal. You'll see Fred on him because he has height to him. I want to see Scottie Barnes taking a chance to guard him.

But yeah, they-- it's going to be a really challenging game fresh out of the All-Star break. You're playing a young, bouncy team that wants to make flashy moves on you. You have to be on your toes. You do not want lobs thrown right over your head. So yeah, it should be a great matchup.

IMMAN ADAN: The Raptors play the Hawks next. For anyone who wants a preview on that, just copy everything Yasmin just said and paste it in, replace LaMelo with Trae Young. And everything pretty much is the same besides him having height on him.