Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has not played in over five weeks, is set to return from his calf injury on Monday night against the Boston Celtics, as first reported by ESPN. He will face minute restrictions in his first game back in over a month.
As of Monday at 1:30 pm ET, the Bucks have upgraded Giannis' status to questionable for Monday night's game.
Antetokounmpo has not played since Jan. 23, when the Bucks lost 102-100 to the Denver Nuggets. Early in this game, Giannis suffered a concerning-looking right calf strain, which kept him sidelined through the All-Star break and an eventful trade deadline, where the two-time MVP was brought up in trade conversations around the league.
Although several teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Miami Heat, held direct dialogue with the Bucks about a trade for Giannis before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, Milwaukee was never serious in their intentions to trade the multi-time All-Star, league sources told ClutchPoints.
Teams that were showing heavy interest in Antetokounmpo never once felt as if Giannis being traded in the middle of the season was a real possibility, and the Bucks informed them of such hours before the trade deadline.
Without Giannis on the floor, the Bucks have actually found quite a bit of success, winning eight of their last 15 games to move within three games of the Charlotte Hornets for the 10-seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Cam Thomas, Ryan Rollins, and Kevin Porter Jr. have been great playing off one another in the Bucks' backcourt.
The Bucks are still attempting to make the playoffs this season, and Giannis made it clear to the organization he held no intentions of sitting out the rest of the year. That is why the organization is not following in the footsteps of those near the bottom of the league standings and throwing in the towel on the season.
With Antetokounmpo returning to the lineup on Monday night against Boston, the Bucks will look to keep their momentum trending in a positive direction. After their game against the Celtics, who are playing their second game in as many nights, Milwaukee will enter a stretch of games against some teams with a losing record and others who are dealing with major injury concerns.
There is a path to potentially finding success and rising in the standings, which is why the Bucks and Antetokounmpo are still fighting entering March.
In 30 games this season, Giannis has averaged 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game while shooting 64.5 percent from the floor. He is ineligible for end-of-season awards and honors as a result of missing more than 17 games this season, which means Antetokounmpo's streak of seven straight All-NBA First-Team selections and nine straight All-NBA selections overall has come to an end.
