It may have taken till the end of the calendar year, but the Raptors appear to be getting healthy.
Toronto gets back a handful of players for a home tilt against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, namely centre Jakob Poeltl and guard Bruce Brown Jr.
Poeltl missed the team's last four contests due to a groin strain suffered in a loss against the Chicago Bulls nearly two weeks ago. The Austrian's absence was felt as the Raptors went 0-4 without him, extending their losing skid to nine in a row.
The 29-year-old Poeltl is averaging career-highs in scoring (15.5), field goal makes (6.6) and rebounds (11.0) with 1.2 blocks per game through 26 contests.
Meanwhile, Brown is set to make his season debut for Toronto after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery before the start of training camp. Brown joined the Raptors midway through the 2023-24 season in the Pascal Siakam trade to the Indiana Pacers and has since played 34 games with the Raptors.
The 28-year-old averaged 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists with shooting splits of 48.1/31.7/83.3 per cent in that span.
Poeltl and Brown won't be the only reinforcements for Toronto on Sunday as rookies Ja'Kobe Walter (illness) and Jamal Shead (knee contusion) return to the lineup as well.
Immanuel Quickley (elbow), Davion Mitchell (illness) and Bruno Fernando (toe) are all unavailable against the Hawks. Tip-off between the Eastern Conference rivals is at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.