This is about the best outcome the Bucks could have hoped for once Giannis Antetokounmpo fell into a stanchion and injured his wrist.
Antetokounmpo does have a sprained wrist but nothing more according to a specialist who has examined him, and while Antetokounmpo may miss some games he’s not expected to be out for an extended period of time. That according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The Bucks are riding a 12-game winning streak going into the All-Star break and are tied in the loss column with the Celtics for the best record in the NBA. They could not afford to be without Antetokounmpo for an extended period, he is averaging 31.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists a game for the Bucks.
Antetokounmpo sprained his wrist Thursday against the Bulls when he tried to block a Coby White shot and tumbled into the stanchion, breaking his fall with his right hand.
This replay angle shows Giannis running into the stanchion after trying to get the chasedown block on Coby White.pic.twitter.com/YdDxRIfcMv
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 17, 2023
A captain in the All-Star Game, Antetokounmpo selected his team (including Ja Morant, eventually), and then played 20 seconds, scoring the first bucket of the night on a dunk, then intentionally fouling Luka Dončić and subbing himself out not to return.
“Taking it day by day, try to get healthy,” Antetokounmpo said postgame. “You know, obviously, I had the incident three days ago. I don’t think it’s smart in any way to, you know, play a lot of minutes in the All-Star Game.
“At the end of the day, obviously, you want to participate, you want to run up and down, joke around, have some dunks, create some work. But at the end of the day, I feel you also have to be mature. Hard decision, but mature decision to take a break here, take care of it, and hopefully I can be available for my team when they need me.”