Bucks Are Trying To Protect Giannis Antetokounmpo From Himself, Says Doc Rivers On His Injuries

Giannis Antetokounmpo has picked up another injury amid a messy season with the Milwaukee Bucks, and this time it’s a calf strain that he predicted could keep him out for four to six weeks. However, the team has not yet offered an official timetable, as Doc Rivers shared that they will continue trying to protect him from pushing himself too hard.

It’s never nice to see Antetokounmpo pick up an injury. He is one of the most dominant players in the NBA when healthy, but these niggles have started to catch up with him over the past few years, both in the regular season and the postseason. They have kept him from competing for more MVP titles and prevented the Bucks from making deeper playoff runs.

According to Rivers, a reason why Giannis might be picking up more injuries these past few seasons is that he always wants to play. They’ve had to learn to keep him at bay and let him rest despite his competitiveness.

“He’s competitive, and he wants to play. That’s why we try to protect him from him more than often. And we do it most of the time. I even thought we did it the other night. But it’s tough, it’s not easy,” Rivers shared with the Milwaukee media.

Injuries are never easy to deal with in the NBA, especially when they involve a star player. We’re now 44 games into the regular season, yet Giannis has played in only 30 of them. First, it was a left adductor strain. Then, it was his right calf. Now, he has re-injured that same calf and could be on the shelf for a while.

Rivers later shared that he had been concerned about Giannisfor a while before he picked up the injury. However, the medical team cleared him, and he did not have a say in whether he should play or not.

“I was concerned at halftime. I didn’t think he was running right. But he’s been very honest most of the time,” Rivers shared. “I think he’s been pretty good overall. Like, he takes himself out, and that’s why they left him in, because he kept saying, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’ Now, visually, I kept asking. I’m not involved in that decision-making part, but I know what I see.”

If only Rivers, who has coached in the NBA for 27 seasons, had trusted his gut. Now he will be without his best player for an extended period, something the 18-26 Bucks cannot afford.

It should be noted that Giannis has been involved in trade discussions with the team all year, and he has seemed a bit checked out at times because of it. This injury could tank the outlook for the Bucks, which may give them a reason to trade their franchise cornerstone.

We will just have to wait and see what happens. Milwaukee’s game on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks was postponed because of a snowstorm, so we still have not seen them play since Giannis picked up the injury. But we would venture to guess that things may only get worse from here.

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