Injury Report: Norman Powell suffers shoulder injury in Utah

In Monday night’s contest with the Utah Jazz, the Raptors’ Norman Powell suffered what was initially reported as a sprain in his left shoulder. The header picture above sets the scene: arm down and straight, with a painful grimace. It did not look great.

In the process of fighting around a Rudy Gobert screen in the second quarter, Powell got caught on the massive Frenchman’s shoulder, twisted, and then quickly darted off the court. He’d only been on the court for a couple of seconds when it occurred. (For what it’s worth, the Raptors would go on to win the game handily, 124-111.)

As of this morning, the update is still fairly grim: Powell suffered a subluxation of his shoulder, which is a fancy way of saying it’s partially dislocated. If we’ve learned anything from the perils of shoulder injuries lately (thanks to Delon Wright), it’s that they can take upwards of a month to heal properly.

Obviously, we don’t yet know how long Powell will be out. But we do know it would take a lot to get Norm, the king of the grind, to express the kind of pain he’s showing in that aforementioned header picture. And it couldn’t come at a worse time: this was supposed to be Powell’s bounce-back season, and while his numbers so far haven’t been huge, he’s mostly done what he was supposed to do for Toronto.

Here’s hoping the severity of the dislocation isn’t too major and Powell is back in the court by the end of the year. The Raptors are a deep team, but injuries still take a toll.