MILWAUKEE — Shortly after the Milwaukee Bucks suffered yet another loss on Friday night, this one by two points after a furious comeback attempt against the Denver Nuggets’ back-ups fell short, Giannis Antetokounmpo sat at his locker and let out a yell. He then clapped his hands loudly in frustration, put on his socks and turned to face the media.
He had bad news to deliver about his right calf, which had been limiting him all night and kept him out of the final 34 seconds.
“The next steps will be go to MRI tomorrow, after the MRI they will tell me probably I popped something in my calf, or my soleus, something. They’ll probably give me a protocol of 4-6 weeks that I’ll be out. This is from my experience being around in the NBA,” Antetokounmpo said. “After that, I’m going to work my butt off to come back. That will probably be the end of February, beginning of March. Hopefully the team will be in a place that we can at least make the Play-In or the playoffs. Just take it day-by-day, try to get better.”
The Bucks have not announced an official timeline for Antetokounmpo’s injury, but he missed over three weeks earlier this season with a calf strain on the same leg, and indicated that this injury felt the same to him. He is likely heading back to the sidelines for an extended period, and could be out through the trade deadline (Feb. 5) and All-Star Weekend (Feb. 13-15), and possibly longer.
What does that mean for him and the Bucks, and could this injury actually be a blessing in disguise?
Time to tank?
The Bucks got off to a 4-1 start that included wins over the Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks. It seemed as though their audacious offseason plan to waive-and-stretch Damian Lillard, sign Myles Turner and surround Antetokounmpo with shooting could pay off.
Since then, however, they’ve been one of the worst teams in the league, in part due to a parade of injuries. Friday’s loss to the Nuggets was their sixth in the last eight games, and they’re now a season-worst eight games below .500. At 18-26, they are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, 2 ½ games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final Play-In Tournament spot.
The Bucks are closer to the Brooklyn Nets for the fifth-worst record in the league than they are to the Philadelphia 76ers for a top-six spot in the East. For the season, the Bucks are 3-11 with Antetokounmpo out of the lineup. At that pace, they have little hope of still being in the Play-In race if he’s out until after the All-Star break.
While the Bucks do not control their own first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, they will have a first-round pick. They will receive the least favorable of their pick and the New Orleans Pelicans’ first-round pick. The 11-36 Pelicans have the second-worst record in the league and are well on their way to a top-five selection. If both teams are bad, that guarantees the Bucks a good pick.
It’s impossible for the Bucks to get the No. 1 overall pick, but they could pick as high as No. 2 if they continue to fall down the standings and get some lottery luck. A top-five selection in what is regarded as a generational draft class is well within the realm of possibility, depending on when/if Antetokounmpo returns. The Bucks haven’t drafted higher than No. 10 since Antetokounmpo came to town, and this could be a rare chance to get an elite talent while he is still on the roster.
Giannis Antetokounmpo shouldn’t play another game for the Bucks this season, and probably not ever again
Sam Quinn
What about the trade deadline?
Earlier this month, Antetokounmpo told Sam Amick of The Athletic that he would never request a trade. However, after the Bucks’ narrow win over the Hawks on Monday, Antetokounmpo was asked if he would finish the season in Milwaukee and responded, “I don’t know. I take it day-by-day.”
Following the Bucks’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo called out his teammates for being “selfish” and “not playing hard.” Shams Charania then reported Friday that discussions between the Bucks and Antetokounmpo about his future had “intensified in nature” and that the “tension” inside the organization and locker room was at an “all-time high.”
Over the last month, however, there were numerous reports that the Bucks had actually been looking to buy at the deadline to increase their chances of making the playoffs in a weaker-than-usual Eastern Conference.
About the only thing that had been clear about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee was that the entire league was watching.
“Giannis is the trade deadline,” Brian Windhorst said earlier this week. “There is really not a lot of other players out there that can move the needle. There is very small to no market for Ja Morant or Anthony Davis. The entire league is watching Giannis.”
Antetokounmpo’s injury throws a major wrench into the deadline plans for the Bucks and every other team that was waiting for a resolution on his status.
The Bucks should no longer be buyers at the deadline or entertain any deals in which they give up future assets such as Ryan Rollins or their 2031 first-round pick. It’s unclear how Antetokounmpo’s injury will impact other teams’ pursuit of the two-time MVP, but it likely increases the odds that he remains with the Bucks for the rest of the season.
Antetokounmpo likely out of the All-Star Game (again) and award consideration
Antetokounmpo was recently named as a starter for the All-Star Game for the 10th consecutive season, which is the longest active streak in the league. However, this calf injury will likely keep him from playing in the mid-season showcase for the second consecutive year. He also sat out last year due to a calf injury.
In addition, this injury will end Antetokounmpo’s chances of award consideration. The 65-game threshold for major awards means that players cannot miss more than 17 games in a season. Antetokounmpo has already missed 14 games, and even if he comes back earlier than expected, he’s going to miss four more games.
Antetokounmpo has been named to the All-NBA First Team and finished in the top-four in MVP voting in each of the last seven seasons. Those streaks will come to an end.
“It’s hard, but always in my mind I think of the good things that have happened in my life, and I think of where I am in this moment, and what my goals are, and what stops me from these goals, which might be this injury, and the first thing that you have to think about is that it can be way worse,” Antetokounmpo said Friday. “You can be out for 12 months, 18 months. Being out for two, three, four, five, six weeks, whatever the case may be and not making the All-NBA, for sure it’s gonna hurt. For sure it will be a little bit frustrating, but it doesn’t matter. That’s not where we are right now mentally as a team, as a player. All-NBA it’s in June, I’m in January.”
Can the Bucks turn this into a positive?
This is the fourth time in the last three seasons that Antetokounmpo has suffered a calf injury.
In addition to the right calf strain that kept him out for three weeks earlier this season, he missed over two weeks (and sat out of the All-Star Game) last season due to a left calf strain. A left calf strain also kept him out of the final week of the regular season and the playoffs in 2024.
“I don’t think it looks great, personally,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Friday. “This calf keeps coming up and it’s concerning. I’m not a doctor, but I’m smart enough to know that his calf keeps bothering him and there’s something that is there and it keeps happening, and that’s troublesome for all of us.”
No one in Milwaukee wanted to see Antetokounmpo injured yet again, but there’s a chance for the Bucks to turn this into a long-term positive.
This team is not going anywhere this season. Since their 4-1 start, they have three wins against teams in the top-six in either conference, and overall they are 24th in offensive rating, 21st in defensive rating and 24th in net rating (-3.4). Even in a world where they made some moves at the deadline and fought their way into the Play-In, they were not going to be a contender.
Now, there’s a very good chance they end up with a top-10 pick, and possibly even higher than that — especially if Antetokounmpo’s injury keeps him out for more than a month (at which point there’s little reason for him to return at all this season). Whatever happens with Antetokounmpo down the line, that’s much better for their future than a futile Play-In chase.
