A left calf strain will sideline the Greek Freak for All-Star Weekend
According to Shams Charania of ESPN, Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the next three games for the Bucks and the All-Star Game due to a mild calf strain on his left leg. He should return shortly after the Bucks return from the break on February 20th.
FROM SHAMS:
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo will be sidelined through the next week due to a mild calf strain and will miss the NBA All-Star Game next Sunday, sources tell ESPN. Antetokounmpo, out since Feb. 2, is expected to return to action shortly after All-Star break.
— Shams Charania Tweets (& Other NBA News) (@shamsbot.bsky.social) 2025-02-09T16:37:39.832Z
Chris Haynes provided a more defined period, as in a video on Bluesky, Haynes said Giannis will be out 2–3 weeks with that injury. That means could return as early as February 23 against the Miami Heat or as late as March 1 on the road against the Dallas Mavericks.
BREAKING: Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo to be sidelined weeks with calf strain, forcing him to sit out of the All-Star game next weekend. #haynesbriefs
— Chris Haynes (@chrisbhaynes.bsky.social) 2025-02-09T16:56:37.712Z
Giannis has been out since February 3rd and has missed the last three games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Hornets, and Atlanta Hawks. While he missed the OKC game due to patellar tendinopathy, during warm-ups in Charlotte, he appeared to sustain this injury, and he was a late scratch from the starting lineup minutes before tip. Here’s what Doc Rivers had to say about this:
He wanted to play the Charlotte game—didn’t feel great once he went out on the floor, and that was a game-time decision. Thank god he didn’t play… from then, we’ve just been monitoring it, and it just hasn’t improved enough for us to play him. If this was a playoff game, would he probably play? Yes, but this is not, and we want to make sure he’s playing in the playoffs. Obviously, we haven’t been playing well over the last seven games. We’d love to have him, but you still gotta be smart at the end of the day. I think it’s more important to get him healthy.
It’s the same leg in which he sustained the soleus strain he sustained last April against Boston and sidelined him during Milwaukee’s first-round series against Indiana last season. When asked if there was any connection between the two injuries, Rivers didn’t think there was any, but admitted he asked yet. However, he doesn’t think this current calf issue is very severe:
There’s no greater severity, it’s just we’re gonna be very cautious with it. Those things linger, and we’re not gonna take any chances… I’m guessing that [he’s going to miss the rest of the games prior to the All-Star break].
As site founder Frank Madden pointed out before today’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, if Giannis misses seven of the final 31 games of the regular season, he will be ineligible for any regular-season awards, including MVP, the All-NBA and All-Defensive teams. If his return is any later than February 25 against the Rockets (barring any injury after that point), he will be ineligible for those awards.
Doc also confirmed Charania’s report that Giannis won’t appear in the All-Star Game, saying, “No, that wouldn’t be a good look, now would it?”