AP Photo/Morry Gash
The Milwaukee Bucks announced forward Khris Middleton will miss the remainder of Wednesday’s home game against the Chicago Bulls due to right knee soreness.
As The Athletic’s Eric Nehm pointed out, Middleton appears to be Injured after a one-minute fadeaway. After the game, head coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters Middleton reactivated his previous injury , the status of the players in the last two regular season games is unknown. Middleton stayed on the court for most of the first quarter, and then 3:36 left in the game. Leave in seconds. Wesley Matthews replaced him, and the Bucks won 105-92 and secured the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The 31-year-old Middleton, in his 10th season with the Bucks, shot 43.9 percent on Wednesday. Shooting averaged 15.5 points, 5.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds. Middleton has dealt with numerous knee issues since last year.
He suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain in Game 1 of last year’s playoff round against the Chicago Bulls and missed The Bucks ended the rest of the playoffs, ending in a seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the Boston Celtics.
From Dec. 17 to Jan. 21, Middleton also missed 18 games this year with right knee soreness. Since then, he’s often sat out the first or second game of back-to-back games with a break.
It’s been a tough year for the three-time All-Star, who was healthy with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo served as a standout wing and helped lead the Bucks to a title in 2020-21.
Due to knee soreness and recovery from injury, he played in only 33 games. Offseason surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist made him He was unable to play in Milwaukee’s first 20 games.
Hope Middleton is well enough to play in the playoffs starting Saturday, April 15th. Milwaukee needs only one win or one loss from the Boston Celtics going into Wednesday to have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
If Middleton has to sit out any time, look for a number of players in the Bucks’ reserve lineup to step up, like Matthews, Joe Ingalls and Jae Crowder.
