Kyle Lowry Out for Raptors vs. Kings
The Toronto Raptors will be without Kyle Lowry on Friday night when they take on the Sacramento Kings. Lowry will miss the game for undisclosed personal reasons, according to the team's injury report.
The 34-year-old Lowry was not listed on the Raptors' 1:30 p.m. injury report but popped up on the 5:30 p.m. report. It's unclear exactly why Lowry will miss the game, though he will reportedly rejoin the team on Sunday, according to Sportsnet's Steven Loung.
The Raptors have struggled to find success this season without Lowry. He's had a +38 Net Rating this season, according to Cleaning the Glass, and the Raptors are plus-nine in 259 minutes with Lowry on the court compared to minus-42 in 77 minutes without him.
It'll mean another start for Norman Powell, who stepped in admirably to replace Pascal Siakam earlier in the year with Siakam was benched for one game. Powell has traditionally played much better in games he's started compared to those he's come off the bench in.
"Norm seems to feel comfortable as a starter, so should give him a chance to get off a little bit tonight," Nurse said. "Get some longer looks at Malachi [Flynn], who although he hasn't scored, has I think played pretty well. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Probably start knocking down a few shots here. But he's doing other things really well, relieving some of the pressure of the ball-handling from those guys. That's about it. And then hopefully we can get another one of our wings, TD or Matt or DeAndre' or somebody else in there to fill in as well."
While Flynn certainly impressed in the preseason, he's yet to make an impact in the regular season.
Patrick McCaw is the only other Raptors player listed as out against the Kings. Sacramento has De'Aaron Fox listed as questionable for Friday night.
