Report: Jonas Valanciunas elects rehab over surgery on fractured hand
Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas will forgo surgery on his fractured left hand, Yahoo's Shams Charania reports.
Instead, he'll rehab the injury, which presumably means he'll miss less time than he would've had he gone under the knife.
Valanciunas underwent further tests on his hand Saturday after suffering the injury during Friday's victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Losing the Lithuanian is a huge blow to the Raptors at the position they could least afford. Toronto's painfully thin at center and backup Bismack Biyombo has struggled significantly on offense.
Head coach Dwane Casey got by in Friday's game by getting creative with his lineups, giving seldom-used forward James Johnson (who stands at 6-foot-8) time at the five-spot.
The lineup gymnastics will have to continue in the wake of Valanciunas' absence. The team can shore up depth at center by promoting Lucas Nogueira out of the D-League, but he's yet to play meaningful minutes at the NBA level since being drafted 16th overall in 2013.
The Raptors, however, have enjoyed the most success in their small-ball lineups this season, which might make losing a plodding big in Valanciunas somewhat more palatable. This, despite the overwhelming fact the team's better with him on the floor, especially on offense where it's 16 points per 100 possessions improved (109.9 on, 93.6 off).
The 7-footer is averaging 12.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game while shooting 55.6 percent from the field.