Due to a calf injury, Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the remainder of the regular season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the standout player for the Milwaukee Bucks, will miss the remainder of the regular season due to a left calf injury, the team said on Wednesday.
The two-time NBA MVP will take care of the ailment with “daily treatment and evaluation.” There’s no set schedule for his comeback yet. Antetokounmpo will have less than two weeks to recuperate before possibly missing postseason action as the NBA playoffs’ first round is scheduled to start on April 20 and 21.
During Milwaukee’s 104-91 home victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo, 29, sustained a noncontact injury. In the last seconds of the third quarter, Antetokounmpo inbounded the ball and started sprinting up the floor. He took a couple more steps, then collapsed onto the court, clutching his left leg behind him.
With Antetokounmpo still sat on the floor, the Bucks called a timeout. Eventually, he managed to hobble himself to the locker room. Milwaukee ended a four-game losing streak with Antetokounmpo’s performance of 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists in 29 minutes, even though he did not return.
The injury to Antetokounmpo is a “high concern,” according to Bucks coach Doc Rivers during his postgame remarks.
“Players and coaches, when [the injury] first went down, we were two minutes into a fog,” he said. “We sort of moved past it and resumed our game. We will simply have to hope for the best.
Rivers is right to be concerned. After Antetokounmpo had a tailbone injury in Game 1 and missed Games 2 and 3, Milwaukee was defeated by the Miami Heat in the opening round of the previous season’s playoffs. The Bucks lost in five games to the eventual Eastern Conference champion after falling behind 2-1 in the series without their franchise forward.
The Bucks have stumbled to the end of an unforeseenly difficult season, despite starting Wednesday’s play as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Adrian Griffin was sacked by Milwaukee after just 43 games, but the changes were short-lived. With losses to the lottery-bound Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, and Toronto Raptors last week, the Bucks are 13-10 under Rivers since the all-star break.
Antetokounmpo looks to be on his way to being selected for his ninth all-NBA team after averaging 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists this season. The Bucks, who are 3-3 without him this year, play two games against the Orlando Magic and one against the Oklahoma City Thunder to wrap up the regular season. Milwaukee is currently leading the Magic by two games and the New York Knicks by one game for the second seed in the East.