Raptors' Jakob Poeltl shares details on injury, recovery process

Jakob Poeltl missed three games for the Toronto Raptors this season with a back injury.

Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl in action against the Atlanta Hawks. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Toronto Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl is back on the court after a back injury sidelined him for three games.

Poeltl played 20 minutes in the team's 128-100 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds. Poeltl spoke about his return from injury and explained what it will take to get him back at full strength.

“I think I’m still a little bit away from 100 per cent,” Poeltl said via Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange. “But I’m pretty happy with how today went. There were a couple of phases where it stiffened up a little bit … I’m definitely going to have to put in a bunch of work behind the scenes. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where it won’t affect me during games.”

Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner drives to the net against Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Poeltl still not fully healthy

It's a good sign that Poeltl was able to contribute for the team even when he wasn't 100 per cent. He wants the team to succeed and knows he is part of the equation in order to make that happen.

The Raptors showed some success with Poeltl on the sidelines, but they looked even better when he was on the court contributing for the team.

“I mean, obviously you don’t want to put too much (emphasis) on one game,” Poeltl said via Grange. "But I feel we’ve had a pretty good run these last three games or so, where we look better … but we got to bring that even when the team comes out 100 per cent, so that will be a challenge, and hopefully we’ll continue to grow.”

Poeltl is only going to get healthier if he continues to recover in between games, so it's a positive sign of what's to come for the Raptors. The team would like for him to shed that minutes restriction in the next couple of games in order to have him out on the court for longer.

That being said, Poeltl needs to take his recovery seriously with over 70 games left in the regular season. The hope for the Raptors is that Poeltl plays as many of those games as possible, so he needs to keep rehabbing his back and making sure it does what it needs to do.

Poeltl and the Raptors are back in action on Friday when they take on the Atlanta Hawks in their second NBA Cup game. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.