Giannis Antetokounmpo’s earlier calf injury occurred on Dec. 3. He returned to action Dec. 27, but had been on a minutes restriction since.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo thinks he will be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury caused him to miss eight games earlier this season.
Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of a 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. He didn’t appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining.
“At the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said.
The two-time Kia MVP said he expected to undergo an MRI on Saturday and predicted the results wouldn’t be much different from what he heard after injuring the same calf last month.
“After the MRI, they will tell me probably I popped something in my calf, or in my soleus or something, probably give me a protocol of four to six weeks I’ll be out,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is from my experience being around the NBA. After that, I’m going to work my butt off to come back. That will probably be end of February, beginning of March.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers was similarly pessimistic.
“I don’t think it looks great, honestly,” he said. “This calf keeps coming up and it’s concerning. I’m not a doctor, but I’m smart enough to know that his calf keeps bothering him. There’s something that is there. It keeps happening. That’s troublesome for all of us.”
Antetokounmpo’s earlier calf injury occurred on Dec. 3. He returned to action Dec. 27, but had been on a minutes restriction since.
This latest injury puts the Bucks’ hopes of a 10th straight playoff berth in serious jeopardy. The Bucks (18-26) are 11th in the Eastern Conference standings and have lost five of their last six games.
Milwaukee has gone just 3-11 in games Antetokounmpo has missed this season. Antetokounmpo said he would have exited the game as soon as the calf issue arose if the Bucks had a significantly better record.
He instead stayed in the game and ended up with 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
“I don’t like to quit,” Antetokounmpo said. “I felt like I couldn’t explode. I could jog. I couldn’t get on my toes, so I was kind of jogging on my heel the majority of the game. I didn’t have the same explosiveness, but I still felt like I could help. At the end, when it popped, I had to get out. I couldn’t walk.”
