OG Anunoby undergoes emergency appendectomy, no timetable for return

As if OG Anunoby could not experience any more bad luck this season for the Raptors, we arrive at this latest bit of news. According to Toronto’s team management, the second year forward was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy after being hit with acute appendicitis — literally the day before the playoffs are set to begin.

The official wording from the team:

The Toronto Raptors announced Friday that forward OG Anunoby had an emergency appendectomy after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis. There is no timeline for Anunoby’s return and his condition will be updated as appropriate.

Much like OG’s recent “concussion-like” symptoms, an appendectomy is the kind of injury from which there is no real recovery process other than to just sit, rest, and wait for it to heal. Unlike other strains and sprains, there’s no way for Anunoby to really keep up with any basketball-related activities since, well, it’s hard for a person to even just bend over, post-appendectomy. My medical opinion on this: it sucks.

While it was clear from Anunoby’s last couple of appearances in the regular season — the last two games of Toronto’s year — he was still finding his footing after missing the four previous games. OG doesn’t hold the role he had last season with Toronto (as the starting small forward), but he does figure prominently as the team’s eighth or ninth man, allowing the team some flexibility in their lineup decisions. Again, I repeat: this sucks.

While the Raptors are not giving any sort of timeline for Anunoby’s return, most anecdotal evidence suggests at least two to three weeks, if not more, before he’ll be able to return to the court. Let’s see how the Raptors respond in the first round (before even wondering about the second).