The Toronto Raptors announced on Tuesday that Kyle Lowry recently received pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory injections for his lower back soreness, which, along with a quad injury, has sidelined him for seven of the last eight games.
Lowry's condition continues to improve, the Raptors added, but there is no timetable for his return.
The Raptors announce Kyle Lowry had pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory injections in his back last week at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. pic.twitter.com/RKhm5vV5mP
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 1, 2019
Lowry is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career. His scoring is down, but he's averaging a career-high 9.8 assists per game, putting him behind only Russell Westbrook for most in the league.
With Lowry on the court, the Raptors have been outscoring opponents by an average margin of 12.2 points per 100 possessions. With him on the bench, they've been outscored by 4.4 points per 100 possessions.
Lowry last played on Dec. 22. In a 25-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the four-time All-Star logged 30 minutes and scored 20 points on 6-for-16 shooting from the field. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.
After the game, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said Lowry "obviously wasn't 100 percent."
"I think he was struggling there a little bit at the end, so we got him out of there," Nurse continued. "But he was pretty good. I thought he was up the floor, and he was defending and fighting and doing his thing."
MORE: Takeaways from Toronto's loss in Philadelphia
Fred VanVleet has been starting in place of Lowry over the last couple of weeks. VanVleet is averaging 12.9 points, 5.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 steals as a starter compared to 8.8 points, 3.9 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals as a reserve this season.
The Raptors host the Utah Jazz on Tuesday and travel to San Antonio on Thursday to play the Spurs.