Milwaukee Bucks forward Torrey Craig has undergone surgery to repair a fractured nose and will be sidelined for two weeks.
Torrey Craig had been fighting for minutes in the Milwaukee Bucks’ rotation to start the season, but now, he will have to wait longer for his steady opportunity.
Craig was out of the primary rotation for Milwaukee’s first three games of the 2020-21 campaign, having logged just 13 total minutes. Unfortunately, in his limited time, the forward went down with an injury after he inadvertently took a shot from Kevin Knox in the team’s 130-110 loss to the New York Knicks this past Sunday.
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The injury was diagnosed as a nasal fracture soon after, and now, it will sideline Craig for the next few weeks.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Craig underwent successful surgery to repair the fracture and will be cleared to resume basketball activities in approximately two weeks.
This is not the first time that Craig suffered this particular injury, as the swingman endured a similar blow in the 2019 Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. However, it was a much quicker turnaround then, as after Craig went down in the second quarter, he checked back into the game in the third with a protective mask.
That display of toughness is just one reason fans have been lobbying for Craig to see more minutes for the Bucks, but now, his case gets more complex.
Fans had been pleading for Torrey Craig to see more action with the Milwaukee Bucks before his injury, and justifiably so.
From the moment Craig touched down in Milwaukee, he made a strong first impression. The recently turned 30-year-old discussed bringing an underdog mentality to this Bucks team that they had not been accustomed to with the best regular season record in consecutive seasons.
Craig expressed his excitement to play in Milwaukee and how he is willing to embrace any role they have in mind for him as transcribed by Locked on Bucks host Kane Pitman:
"“You got to sacrifice something,” he admits. “Every good team has players that sacrifice something. I’ve been a scorer my whole life and now I’ve transitioned over to defence.“It was tough at first but once you understand a team and knowing what a team has and what it doesn’t have like in Denver they had a lot of guys who could score but not a lot of guys who can play defence so I was willing to fill in one of those roles and hopefully for Milwaukee whatever role they need I’m just willing to do whatever I can to help the team.”"
Craig has built up a reputation as a premier perimeter defender throughout his first three seasons in the league, something that the Bucks desperately needed to add this offseason. That stature, along with his tone-setting mentality, made him a fan favorite right away. Furthermore, it appears he is excited to play alongside several Bucks, particularly Giannis Antetokounmpo:
"“It’s going to be exciting. He has that dog mentality, so we have that in common. He’s gritty, he’s competitive and he’s a dominant player so playing alongside him is going to be fun. I think it’s going to be tough for teams to go up against a team with guys who have the dog mentality like Giannis, myself and Bobby Portis so I can’t wait to get started.”"
Unfortunately, the Bucks will be without Torrey Craig for the next two weeks. Hopefully, as the forward returns to form, he can come back and continue trying to carve out his place in Mike Budenholzer’s rotation.