Although Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was unable to suit up tonight against the Chicago Bulls due to a sprained right ankle, he is not expected to miss significant time after recently undergoing an MRI.
According to an article written on Friday by Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bucks head coach Joe Prunty did not seem very concerned about his star forward missing very many games.
“In all honesty, I can’t give you an honest answer and say this is exactly when he’s coming back, but I believe it will be sooner rather than later,” coach Prunty said.
The ankle injury to Antetokounmpo occurred during the second quarter of Wednesday night's 127-120 loss to the L.A. Clippers when it appeared he was accidentally stepped on by Clippers point guard Austin Rivers. Antetokounmpo tried to play through the pain for about a minute but was unable to continue.
“He's our main guy,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said of Antetokounmpo, per Velazquez. “The attention he creates on the offensive end, we definitely missed that throughout the whole game when he was out. We're a team, so when he goes out we can't give up. We know what we can do as a team, and tonight we just didn't do it.”
Although Antetokounmpo may miss only a short amount of time, his absence in Milwaukee's lineup is a huge loss at such a crucial part of the season. With a win tonight in Chicago, the Bucks would potentially move 6.0 games ahead of the Detroit Pistons for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
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