Bucks announce Giannis Antetokounmpo out of All-Star Game with injury
Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will not play in next weekend’s All-Star Game because of a strained left calf, meaning NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will have to pick a replacement.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers confirmed Antetokounmpo’s status Sunday, with the team ruling him out of a game against Philadelphia and indicating that he’ll likely also be out for games Monday at home against Golden State and Wednesday at Minnesota.
“We’ve just been monitoring it, and it just hasn’t improved enough for us to play him,” Rivers said. “If this was a playoff game, would he play? Probably yes. But this is not. And we want to make sure he’s playing in the playoffs.”
Antetokounmpo missed Milwaukee’s one-round appearance in last season’s playoffs with a left calf strain. The Bucks lost to Indiana in six games.
Antetokounmpo last played Feb. 2 in the Bucks’ 123-119 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He was listed as unavailable due to right patella tendinopathy for the Bucks’ 125-96 loss at Oklahoma City the following night, and he’s been out with the calf issue ever since.
He missed a 112-102 victory at Charlotte on Wednesday and a 115-110 loss at Atlanta on Friday. He went through warmups in Charlotte, but was scratched just before the game.
Antetokounmpo was the leader in fan votes for the All-Star Game, which will be played in San Francisco on Feb. 16 with a new mini-tournament format.
Antetokounmpo was to play on Team Chuck, the eight-man squad drafted last week by TNT analyst Charles Barkley. Antetokounmpo was the fourth of the 24 players drafted by Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith to the All-Star rosters.
Team Chuck has a roster with a very international feel: Nikola Jokic of Serbia, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Canada, Victor Wembanyama of France, Pascal Siakam of Cameroon, Alperen Sengun of Turkey, Karl-Anthony Towns (whose mother is Dominican) and Donovan Mitchell (whose mother is from Panama).
It is possible that Silver may have to make another decision on an All-Star replacement in the coming days as well. Dallas forward Anthony Davis — newly acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers — left his Mavericks debut on Saturday after feeling what he described as tightness in his groin and quadriceps area.
Davis has also been dealing with an abdominal strain, one that kept him out of his final two games with the Lakers before the trade and the first two he could have played with the Mavs.
“It’s nothing serious,” Davis said.
The 30-year-old Antetokounmpo ranks second in the NBA in scoring (31.8) and fifth in rebounding (12.2) per game. Rivers is hoping Antetokounmpo can play when the Bucks get to post-All-Star matchups on Feb. 20.
“We’re really hoping that when we come out of the break, we have our team,” Rivers said. “That’s the hope.”
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AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
