Toronto Raptors Injury Report Against Brooklyn Nets

In the final game of the regular season, the Toronto Raptors are set to face off against the 20-win Brooklyn Nets in the Barclays Center. Currently slotted at the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, tonight's game is the most important of the season for the Raptors, as they can finish as high as fifth and as low as eighth. The Raptors control their own destiny with just one game remaining; if they win tonight, there is no scenario where they drop in the standings and fall into the Play-In Tournament. 

However, if they lose, their chances of remaining a top-six seed are slim, but not zero. Toronto would need help from the Boston Celtics to beat the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in order to keep the sixth seed with a loss in Brooklyn. Based on all outcomes of the deciding games in the East, only 25% of them result in Toronto maintaining its playoff spot after losing to Brooklyn, without the Play-In. 

With the heightened level of importance for tonight’s game, it’s important to have the entire rotation healthy and ready to go to treat this like a playoff game. Injuries haven’t been kind to the Raptors this season (84 total games missed between Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, and Collin Murray-Boyles), but they have been pushing through the pain in an attempt to erase the franchise’s three-year playoff drought. 

Heading into Brooklyn, nobody has been ruled out quite yet, according to the official NBA injury report, but there are notable names listed. 

Three familiar faces for the Raptors are listed on the injury report with questionable tags. Barrett appears to have soreness in his right knee, the same one that kept him out for an extended time due to a PRP injection in December. Murray-Boyles joins the list with a new injury: a neck sprain. Within the last couple of weeks, the standout rookie has been listed on separate reports with a thumb contusion, back spasms, quad contusion, and now a neck sprain. Finally, Trayce Jackson-Davis is listed with an illness. 

Missing Barrett or Murray-Boyles would be a problem for the Raptors in a normal setting. While it may be hard to believe they would sit in such an important contest, this may also be an opportunity to give them some rest, considering the Nets’ approach to the game. They are already guaranteed to hold a share of the highest odds for the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, and in the final game of the season they have 10 players listed as either out or doubtful to play.