{"id":390736,"date":"2026-01-06T01:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/390736\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T01:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:37:08","slug":"raptors-poeltl-cleared-for-contact-conditioning-for-return-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/390736\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors&#8217; Poeltl cleared for contact, conditioning for return to play"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/toronto-raptors\/\" class=\"sn-team-post-link\" target=\"_self\" data-team=\"toronto-raptors\" data-league=\"nba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Toronto Raptors<\/a> centre has been cleared for contact and is conditioning for a return to the court, but will remain out against the Atlanta Hawks, head coach Darko Rajakovic <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michaelgrange\/status\/2008311280369639631?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">told reporters<\/a> on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>The Raptors announced on Dec. 29 that Poeltl would be re-evaluated in one week as he continued to recover from a lower back strain. He was working to complete a program of intensive rehabilitation and strengthening, the team said in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-footer has been nursing a lower back injury all season, culminating in him missing eight of Toronto&#8217;s last nine games, playing only seven minutes before having to exit against the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 21.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old&#8217;s production decreased this season while he&#8217;s dealt with the back issues. Poeltl is averaging 9.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists through 21 appearances on the heels of a career-best season in 2024-25, which earned the 30-year-old a three-year, $84 million extension in the off-season.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors are set to wrap up their five-game homestand against the Hawks on Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Raptors centre has been cleared for contact and is conditioning for a return to the court,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-390736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}