After the Bucks’ losing streak reached five games last night and dropped them to two games below .500 through 18 games, good news was in short supply around the team… until now. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who sustained a right groin strain last Monday in Cleveland, may be returning in the next day or two. Ahead of tomorrow night’s NBA Cup group stage showdown in Miami with the 12-6—and now pretty healthy—Heat, Giannis is listed as questionable with the strain.
An MRI one week ago revealed the strain was
minor, as confirmed by Doc Rivers on friend of the site Gale Klappa’s Courtside podcast. Doc said one to two weeks, but hedged by saying Giannis would be out “probably a couple weeks.” Bucks fans know very well about Giannis’ superhuman recovery time and his ability to play elite ball through nagging injuries, so it’s not a shocker he’s back on the lower end of that timespan, having missed the last three.
Conservatively, I and others were anticipating him to be back on Monday, with an outside shot of this weekend. But tomorrow night—if he indeed plays—was not something I expected. He’ll likely test it out in pregame and go through a typical warmup before any determination. He might be on a minutes restriction too. Before last night’s loss to Portland, he did go through some sort of warmup routine, as relayed by Lisa Byington on the broadcast. So that pointed to things going in a positive direction, and is in line with what Doc said a week ago.
Kevin Porter Jr. should also be nearing a return after undergoing right meniscus surgery at the beginning of the month. Doc told reporters last night that he thought KPJ was also close before last night’s game, and he too went through some warmups alongside Giannis. For what it’s worth, Darvin Ham said on Gale’s pod back on November 13th—12 days ago—that Porter was about two weeks away. Though he’s listed as out tomorrow, don’t rule out the possibility of seeing Scoot in the coming days.
Maybe the undefeated group stage dream/Ham NBA Cup domination isn’t a lost cause?
