{"id":558349,"date":"2026-01-24T19:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/558349\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:30:23","slug":"bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-expects-to-miss-time-after-injuring-his-calf-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/558349\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks\u2019 Giannis Antetokounmpo expects to miss time after injuring his calf again"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo thinks he will be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury<\/a> caused him to miss eight games earlier this season.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of a 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. He didn\u2019t appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,\u201d Antetokounmpo said.<\/p>\n

The two-time MVP said he expected to undergo an MRI on Saturday and predicted the results wouldn\u2019t be much different from what he heard after straining the same calf<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 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\u2019ll be out,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cThis is from my experience being around the NBA. After that, I\u2019m going to work my butt off to come back. That will probably be end of February, beginning of March.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bucks coach Doc Rivers was similarly pessimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it looks great, honestly,\u201d he said. \u201cThis calf keeps coming up and it\u2019s concerning. I\u2019m not a doctor, but I\u2019m smart enough to know that his calf keeps bothering him. There\u2019s something that is there. It keeps happening. That\u2019s troublesome for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Milwaukee<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Morry Gash<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo holds his leg in the final seconds of the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo\u2019s earlier calf injury<\/a> occurred on Dec. 3. He returned<\/a> to action Dec. 27, but had been on a minutes restriction since.<\/p>\n

This latest injury puts the Bucks\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee has gone just 3-11 in games Antetokounmpo has missed this season. Antetokounmpo said he would have exited Friday\u2019s game as soon as the calf issue arose if the Bucks had a significantly better record<\/p>\n

He instead stayed in the game and ended up with 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

\"Milwaukee<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Morry Gash<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, right, and Denver Nuggets’ Zeke Nnaji battle for a loose ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to quit,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t explode. I could jog. I couldn\u2019t get on my toes, so I was kind of jogging on my heel the majority of the game. I didn\u2019t 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\u2019t walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo wasn\u2019t the only notable player from Friday\u2019s game to leave with a leg injury. Denver\u2019s Aaron Gordon scored 13 points in the first half before sitting out the second half with a right hamstring strain.<\/p>\n

Gordon missed 19 games<\/a> after straining that hamstring in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s optimistic it\u2019s not as bad as it was, the last one, but we don\u2019t know until we get it actually tested,\u201d coach David Adelman said.<\/p>\n

Gordon was in the starting lineup Friday one night after playing 33 minutes in a 107-97 win<\/a> at Washington. Adelman said a stress test indicated Gordon had responded well enough to get back in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look at his body and how it responded to yesterday,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cThe response was good. Let\u2019s just be honest, this is not an exact science. These injuries, they can come back at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuggets already are without three-time MVP Nikola Jokic,<\/a> who last played Dec. 29 as he deals with a bone bruise in his left knee. Denver also hasn\u2019t had Cameron Johnson (right knee bone bruise) available all month, and Christian Braun (left ankle sprain) has been out for the last two weeks<\/p>\n

Other players missing for Denver on Friday included Jamal Murray (inflammation of right hamstring and left hip), Peyton Watson (left ankle sprain and right ankle strain) and Jonas Valanciunas (right calf strain).<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Report a typo or error<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo thinks he will be out for an extended period after hurting his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6,302,16986],"class_list":{"0":"post-558349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nuggets","14":"tag-tmj4-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115951740110976886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}