Giannis Antetokounmpo Injury: Could be out up to four weeks
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said Friday that he expects that Antetokounmpo will need closer to four weeks to recover from his strained right calf, Jamal Collier of ESPN.com reports. "I feel like we should learn is with calves -- make sure they're healthy," Rivers said. "So that may take longer than we want. That even may make Giannis frustrated over it, but we just got to try to get that right."
After suffering the injury in Wednesday's win over the Pistons, Antetokounmpo was initially given a loose recovery timetable of 2-to-4 weeks, but he looks like he'll remain out for the longer end of that projections. The good news is that due to the NBA Cup, the Bucks have only seven games over the next three weeks. Jericho Sims, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis are all candidates to receive increased minutes in the frontcourt with Antetokounmpo sidelined, and Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter should both take on increased usage out of the backcourt in the absence of the nine-time All-Star.