The Milwaukee Bucks have listed All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo as questionable for Monday’s game against the Boston Celtics on their first submitted injury report, opening the door for Antetokounmpo’s return to the court for the first time since Jan. 23.
Antetokounmpo has missed Milwaukee’s last 15 games with a right calf (soleus) strain, the second such strain he has suffered this season. The Bucks (26-33) won just three of the first 14 games Antetokounmpo missed this season, but they have compiled a 8-7 record without their superstar forward this time around.
Despite the missed time and minutes restrictions, Antetokounmpo has still managed to average 28 points, 10 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 30 games this season. But even with that MVP-level production, the Bucks — currently 11th in the Eastern Conference standings — have only compiled a 15-15 record in the games Antetokounmpo has played this season.
Antetokounmpo was the subject of constant trade rumors in the months leading up to this year’s NBA trade deadline, but the Bucks did not move him to a new team, and he will finish out his 13th NBA season with the team that selected him in the 2013 NBA Draft. On the day of the trade deadline, The Athletic was first to report that the Bucks star planned on playing again this season rather than being shut down because of the malady of injuries he picked up in the first three months of the regular season.
As Antetokounmpo returns to action, the Bucks find themselves in a difficult situation.
Despite winning eight times in ten tries before this past weekend, they have now lost their last two games. The first of those losses was a 127-98 blowout defeat at the hands of the New York Knicks on Friday night, an expected loss by a contending team. Their most recent loss, however, was far more disappointing. On Sunday, the Chicago Bulls snapped an 11-game losing streak by making a second-half comeback against the Bucks. Furthermore, Milwaukee failed to score a point for seven and a half minutes and allowed a 27-0 run that flipped the game in Chicago’s favor.
With Sunday’s loss, the Bucks dropped to three games behind the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets (30-31) for the final spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament and five games behind the seventh-place Orlando Magic (31-28). Their recent stretch of strong play has largely been matched or surpassed by the two teams directly in front of them in the Eastern Conference standings, as the Atlanta Hawks have won five of their last six games and the Hornets have won 14 of their last 17 games.
The return of the Bucks’ two-time MVP should serve as a considerable boost for the team, but the Bucks still have quite a bit of work left to do just to get into the play-in tournament in the East.
