Bucks’ Antetokounmpo Faces 4-6 Week Absence With Right Calf Injury
bucks-antetokounmpo-out-4-6-weeks-calf-injury
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo expects to be sidelined four to six weeks after injuring his right calf during Friday’s 102-100 home loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The two-time MVP left in the first quarter, returned with a wrap on the leg and logged 32 minutes before coach Doc Rivers removed him late in the fourth. Antetokounmpo finished with 22 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
“After the MRI, they will tell me, probably, I popped something in my calf on my soleus or something,” Antetokounmpo said. The scan is scheduled for Saturday.
He compared Friday’s pain to a right soleus strain that cost him three weeks in December and kept him out of the 2024 playoffs. “This calf keeps coming up and it’s concerning,” Rivers said. “It keeps happening, and that’s troublesome for all of us.”
The Bucks nearly erased a 23-point fourth-quarter deficit but fell to 18-26, their fifth defeat in six games. Milwaukee sits 11th in the Eastern Conference, 2½ games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot, and is 3-11 this season without its star.
Antetokounmpo vowed to “work my butt off” to return by late February or early March. “Hopefully the team will be in a place that we can at least make the play-in or the playoffs,” he said.
Source: ESPN
