Amir Johnson Injury: Updates on Raptors Star's Ankle and Return

Updates from Sunday, Nov. 9

The Toronto Raptors updated Amir Johnson's status prior to the team's game vs. Philadelphia:

Updates from Friday, Nov. 7

The Raptors provided an update on Johnson's status:

Updates from Tuesday, Nov. 4 

The Toronto Raptors provide an update on Amir Johnson's status for the team's matchup on Tuesday with the Oklahoma City Thunder:

Original Text: 

When the Toronto Raptors took on the Miami Heat on Sunday, they did so with a large hole inside in the shape of Amir Johnson.

The team's media relations department announced via Twitter that the power forward had a sore left ankle and would miss what proved to be a 107-102 loss:

Many Raptors fans were initially up in arms when Toronto announced it re-signed Johnson to a five-year, $34 million extension in 2010. However, Johnson's proven to be one of the team's most important players, doing the dirty work that doesn't show up on the stat sheet.

His 10.4 points and 6.6 rebounds only tell half the story of Johnson's 2013-14 season. He was a big reason the Raptors broke their postseason drought.

Since his injury doesn't appear to be too serious, it's likely that the team wanted to rest him during the second half of a back-to-back. There was little reason to risk more harm to Johnson's ankle in the third game of the regular season.