NBA News: DeMar DeRozan Out Indefinitely For The Toronto Raptors

If the Toronto Raptors want to sustain their impressive start to the 2014-2015 NBA Season they have to do it with franchise player and leader DeMar DeRozan, who is out for the Canadian squad for an indefinite period because of a torn left adductor longus tendon or the skeletal muscle located in the thigh.

The team officially announced the injury on Saturday and the high-flying wingman’s return have not been yet been set by the team.

“Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan left Friday’s game versus Dallas at the 8:23 mark of the third quarter and did not return. Test results revealed a torn left adductor longus tendon. There is no timetable for his return to basketball activity. His status will be updated as appropriate,” the Raptors stated on their official website.

DeRozan’s teammates, particularly veteran big Amir Johnson is positive that the Raptors will weather the storm while their top scorer is out.

"One thing about our team, we have guys that can step up and they are definitely going to have to because that's a big scoring load in DeMar," Johnson told the Toronto Sun. "We have guys that can come in and step up for us.”

Before the injury, DeRozan led the team in scoring (19.4 points) and minutes (33.6) per game in the first 16 games for Toronto, which is currently one of the best teams in the league with an East-best 13-3 win-loss record. DeRozan also averages 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game and is one of Toronto’s two-way players contributing both on offence and defence. DeRozan also has been durable in his NBA stint missing just 11 games in his first five seasons

Expected to have a larger scoring role is point guard Kyle Lowry, who is the team’s second leading scorer at 18.6 PPG. Other starters who average in double-figure scoring are Jonas Valanciunas (11.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG) and Terrence Ross (10.7 PPG) and both will be tasked to do more on offence and step up while DeRozan is out.

Without DeRozan, the Raptors lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 106-102 last Friday. DeRozan played in 20 minutes before getting hurt and finished with 0 points missing all of his eight shots in the field. Luckily for Toronto, they are facing two struggling West teams, the Los Angeles Lakers (3-13) on Sunday and Utah Jazz (5-12) on Wednesday, in a three-game Western road trip. Toronto visits the Sacramento Kings (9-7) on Tuesday.