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Milwaukee Bucks fans held their breath on Thursday as Giannis Antetokounmpo exited Greece's game early with an apparent ankle injury. Per Harris Stavrou, the Greek Freak has a mild ankle sprain:
Giannis Antetokounmpo has a mild sprain on his right ankle, per the Greek Basketball Federation. Greece will face Czech Republic in 2 days.
— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) September 8, 2022
Greece takes on the Czech Republic in the Round of 16 in the EuroBasket on Saturday. It's unknown if Giannis will be able to play at this point, but he walked out of the arena on Thursday with a very small limp:
Giannis Antetokounmpo walking out of Mediolanum Forum pic.twitter.com/bGEqlQKIPN
— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) September 8, 2022
This shouldn't be a concern for Giannis Antetokounmpo. While competing for Greece and helping them potentially win the tournament would be great, his focus is on the Bucks and being healthy for camp.
The two-time MVP has been absolutely showing out in the EuroBasket. He had 25 points by halftime against Estonia and prior to this contest, was averaging over 30 points and 10 rebounds per night. Not exactly surprising, though.
Giannis also had his knee iced up following the ankle tweak, but he's been dealing with soreness off and on for quite some time. The knee isn't a worry. Greece was actually planning to take him out in the third anyway, regardless of the injury:
Dimitris Itoudis just now: "Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't going to play more minutes tonight. He is good, it's all good. Of course".
— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) September 8, 2022
Needless to say, Giannis dodged a bullet with a mild sprain. With training camp starting in less than a month, he needs to get healthy as soon as possible. The Bucks are hoping to make a title run and that only happens if their franchise cornerstone is firing on all cylinders.
If Antetokounmpo can suit up vs. the Czech Republic, great. If not, Greece could find itself eliminated. We'll see what his status is come Saturday.
