Getty
Amid his uncertain future with the Milwaukee Bucks and trade rumors surrounding his name, Giannis Antetokounmpo offered a big injury update.
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, despite being out with a calf strain, has been the talk of the NBA over the past few months. But while his team chose not to move him at the trade deadline, and he remains out, the latest Antetokounmpo injury update is good news for the Bucks as they hope to both keep the star in town for the long-term, and make a push to the playoffs this year.
Speaking in a recent interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN, Antetokounmpo addressed a number of topics, some of which included a new injury update, as well as his future in Milwaukee, and the trade rumors surrounding his name.
But first, starting with his injury, Antetokounmpo gave an optimistic update on himself, as he hasn’t played in nearly a month, in what was his second calf strain of the season.
Giannis on a potential return this season:
“I’m healthy today, I just got to check the boxes”
“I’m healthy today, I just got to check the boxes,” he said. “I gotta play some 1-on-1, 3-on-3, 5-on-5, and the moment I do that, I (can return).”
Amid his injury and recovery, Antetokounmpo has recommitted to the Bucks. Yet still, as he is extension-eligible this summer, trade rumors have continued past the deadline, because if he doesn’t see a long-term future in Milwaukee, trading him over the offseason is likely in the cards.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Injury Update
While Antetokounmpo gave an injury update to Andrews, his conversation with the ESPN host was mainly about his future with the Bucks.
However, while speaking over All-Star Weekend, in which he did not participate due to the injury, Antetokounmpo offered similar comments about his health.
“I feel good. I feel 100 percent, to be honest with you,” he said. “I feel like the [All-Star] break doesn’t help, because now I gotta get on the court, I gotta play some 1-on-1, 3-on-3, 5 vs. 5…Once I check all those boxes, I’m ready to go. I feel like I can play a game today.”
In both interviews, Antetokounmpo said he needed to ‘check the boxes’ and go through the typical process of all NBA players, as seen with the rumors about a potential Jayson Tatum return for the Boston Celtics, which requires even the league’s top stars to follow to return from an injury.
Milwaukee’s first game after the All-Star Break is on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans. While Antetokounmpo did say he is fully healthy, he has yet to be cleared by the team and taken off the injury report. His status for that contest is still uncertain, but for the moment, he remains ‘day-to-day’, but is not expected to play against the Pelicans.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Rumors, Bucks Future
There likely hasn’t been more back-and-forth reporting on Antetokounmpo’s future with the Bucks and subsequent trade rumors over the past few months.
By looking at what senior insider Shams Charania of ESPN has reported about the two-time Finals MVP, it would indicate Antetokounmpo was and is ready for a change of scenery. That appeared to be the case, at least for a little bit, until Milwaukee signaled to teams at the trade deadline that they had no plans of moving the star.
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is ready for a new home at the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline or in the offseason as several rival teams make aggressive offers to the Milwaukee Bucks for him, and the franchise is starting to listen, league sources tell ESPN.
Opposingly, Antetokounmpo himself has committed and recommitted to the franchise multiple times. That began with him telling Sam Amick of The Athletic that he would never ask for a trade, followed up by an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saying that he has no plans of asking out.
In his latest interview with Andrews, Antetokounmpo once again asserted his claim that he wants to stay and win a title with the Bucks. However, it did come with the condition that they would put a winning team around him.
“As of today, I’m committed to the Milwaukee Bucks,” he said. “I’m committed to the people that I work with, my teammates, the coaching staff, Coach Doc [Rivers] and [GM] Jon [Horst] in the front office…What I’ve said from the beginning of this year is that, out of my mouth and the way I’ve carried myself, you will never hear me say I don’t want to be a Milwaukee Buck.”
What appears to be clear is that Antetokounmpo wants to win and likes playing for the Bucks and living in Milwaukee. At the moment, those are conflicting ideas, which have led to the subsequent trade rumors.
Antetokounmpo also hinted at his childhood memories and dreams of playing for teams like the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Celtics, which in turn has stirred up trade rumors surrounding those teams as well.
For now, the 2021 Finals MVP is staying in Milwaukee, as he wants to win another title with the franchise. However, he has said multiple times that ‘things change’ and if he does change his thought process sometime before next season, he will once again become the hottest commodity openly on the trade market in recent NBA memory, just like he was for the past few months.
Eli Gregorski is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy Sports. He has years of sports writing experience covering the NBA, NFL, college football and basketball, international soccer, and Formula One. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the assistant sports editor for the award-winning CU Independent student publication. More about Eli Gregorski
More Heavy on Bucks
Loading more stories