Raptors big man Olynyk still searching for answers on mystery injury
Kelly Olynyk is still searching for answers as to what exactly kept him out of the Toronto Raptors lineup for nearly two months.
Playing just a touch under 14 minutes in Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the 32-year-old veteran isn’t quite sure the nature of the back injury that caused him to miss the first 23 games of Toronto’s season.
“Your guess is as good as mine, man,” Olynyk told a reporter who asked about the nature of his injury. “Practice, you get hit, maybe a fall. It just kind of tightened up after practice one day, and then never untightened.”
Olynyk averaged 12.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists over 28 games for the Raptors last season after a mid-season trade from the Utah Jazz and put up 13 points while going three-for-three from long distance in his return to action this weekend.
A member of Canada’s Olympic team this past summer, Olynyk appears grateful for a chance to get his 12th NBA season finally underway.
“Playing basketball is what I love to do. Whenever you get to wake up and play basketball, it’s a great day,” Olynyk added. “Obviously, it took a lot longer than I wanted, probably the team wanted, everybody wanted, but those kind of things happen.”
Olynyk said that while it was frustrating being on the sidelines in the early stages of the year, he didn’t want to risk a further setback.
“You’ve got to take your time. You can’t rush it, but it’s nice to get back out there and get into the flow of things,” he said.
Toronto is using Olynyk on a minutes restriction to begin his campaign, starting with just under 14 minutes off the bench in his first game.
“I think he’s going to really help that second unit,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “For now, I’m just really glad he’s back and playing.”
While he’s averaged 22.6 minutes over the course of his career, Olynyk believes that his ramp-up to action is the right one, even if it’s still a bit less than he’d like to be playing.
“You never want to be restricted in anything, but from a sports science perspective, I think it’s smart,” Olynyk added. “I hope I’m out of [the injury]. You kind of preemptively just make sure you’re moving good, back and core is strong, maybe [you pay] a little extra attention to [your back].”
Olynyk is expected to be back in action when the Raptors hit the floor Monday night at home against the New York Knicks.
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