MILWAUKEE \u2014 Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers reiterated Friday that the Bucks have no plans to shut down Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the season, though the two-time MVP\u2019s return date from a calf strain remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers reiterated that the Bucks have no plans on shutting down Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the season
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Rivers said Friday the two-time MVP\u2019s return date from a calf strain remains uncertain
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Rivers spoke on the issue one day after the trade deadline passed with Antetokounmpo remaining in Milwaukee
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Antetokounmpo\u2019s future had been the center of attention across the league in the weeks leading up to the deadline<\/p>\n
Rivers spoke on the issue during the Bucks\u2019 pregame availability a day after the trade deadline passed with Antetokounmpo remaining in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo\u2019s future had been the center of attention across the league in the weeks leading up to the deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to play when he\u2019s healthy,\u201d Rivers said before the Bucks\u2019 105-99 victory over the Indiana Pacers. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to make sure he\u2019s healthy. He\u2019s getting close. He\u2019s working out. He looks good. I would say hopefully sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bucks, who are 12th in the Eastern Conference standings, potentially could help their draft status by continuing to rest Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee will pick either in its own spot or in New Orleans\u2019 spot in the first round, depending on which spot is less favorable.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee is 15-15 with Antetokounmpo and 6-14 without him.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo hasn\u2019t played since straining his right calf on Jan. 23. Antetokounmpo said the night of the injury that he expected to be told he would miss four to six weeks, though the Bucks haven\u2019t specified any timetable.<\/p>\n
Whether Antetokounmpo is playing or not, his mere presence after the trade deadline lifted the spirits of the Bucks. They\u2019d been dealing pretty much all season with reports that their star player was on the way out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely addresses the elephant that we had in the room for the past few weeks, month or so,\u201d guard Gary Harris said. \u201cNow it\u2019s time to focus, lock in. Rumors, speculation, all that stuff is done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milwaukee responded Friday by winning a third straight game for the first time all season.<\/p>\n
As the deadline passed, Antetokounmpo issued a social media post with the message: \u201cLegends don\u2019t chase. They attract,\u201d accompanying a meme of the scene from the movie \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street\u201d in which Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s character repeatedly yells, \u201cI\u2019m not leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bucks forward Bobby Portis said Antetokounmpo also had texted him a deer emoji and a 100 sign on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was a relief,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cI thought Giannis\u2019 tweet was a unifying thing for all the players as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivers had been steadfast throughout the season in saying the speculation surrounding Antetokounmpo\u2019s potential exit was overblown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept saying it, but no one wanted to hear it,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever wavered on what was going to happen. It bothered me because the talk was almost like people were trying to manifest him out of Milwaukee. But I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not really over, though. The uncertainty surrounding Antetokounmpo\u2019s future has just been pushed back a bit.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo could remain with the Bucks for just a few more months or for years to come.<\/p>\n
He becomes eligible to sign a four-year contract extension worth up to $275 million in October. Antetokounmpo has one year remaining on the three-year, $186 million extension he signed in 2023, though he also has a $62.8 million player option for 2027-28.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo repeatedly has said he loves playing in Milwaukee, but he also has talked about how much he wants to play on a team that\u2019s committed to competing for championships. He led the Bucks to their first title in half a century in 2021.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee has made plenty of moves designed at lengthening its championship window over the last few years, yet the Bucks have lost in the first round of the playoffs each of the last three seasons. Their slow start this season has put their streak of nine straight playoff berths in serious jeopardy.<\/p>\n
General manager Jon Horst\u2019s mission is to show Antetokounmpo the Bucks can return to title contention in short order if the nine-time all-NBA forward sticks around.<\/p>\n
Horst has done it before.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo signed one contract extension in 2020 after the Bucks acquired Jrue Holiday, a move that sparked Milwaukee to its 2021 championship. He signed another extension in 2023 after the Bucks made another blockbuster move to bring Damian Lillard to Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
Horst showed his willingness to be creative in overhauling Milwaukee\u2019s roster last summer, when he waived the injured Lillard and stretched out the remaining money the Bucks owed him over the next five seasons to gain the cap flexibility to sign Myles Turner.<\/p>\n
Horst now faces a similar challenge keeping Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, as the 31-year-old superstar\u2019s future figures to become a dominant storyline again once the offseason arrives.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing on a team with Giannis all these years, it\u2019s like an every-year thing,\u201d Portis said. \u201cYou\u2019ve just got to prepare for it. As soon as May comes, if our season ends and whenever it does, it\u2019s coming right back. There ain\u2019t nothing you can run from, for real. It\u2019s just what comes with it. It\u2019s off for now, but to be determined later, I guess. The rumors, the narratives, the whatever it is, it\u2019s non-stop.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers reiterated Friday that the Bucks have no plans to shut down Giannis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1970,1977,2097,7,6,67,66,1974,1980],"class_list":{"0":"post-592696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-app-sports","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-wisconsin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116041349051379862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592696","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=592696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}