Page 15 - aruba-today-20250210
P. 15
A15
sports Monday 10 February 2025
Bucks announce Giannis Antetokounmpo out of All-Star Game with injury
By TIM REYNOLDS Davis — newly acquired from
AP Basketball Writer the Los Angeles Lakers — left
Milwaukee forward Giannis his Mavericks debut on Sat-
Antetokounmpo will not urday after feeling what he
play in next weekend's All- described as tightness in his
Star Game because of a groin and quadriceps area.
strained left calf, meaning Davis has also been dealing
NBA Commissioner Adam with an abdominal strain, one
Silver will have to pick a re- that kept him out of his final
placement. two games with the Lakers
Bucks coach Doc Rivers con- before the trade and the first
firmed Antetokounmpo's sta- two he could have played
tus Sunday, with the team rul- with the Mavs.
ing him out of a game against "It's nothing serious," Davis
Philadelphia and indicating said.
that he'll likely also be out The 30-year-old Antetok-
for games Monday at home ounmpo ranks second in
against Golden State and the NBA in scoring (31.8) and
Wednesday at Minnesota. fifth in rebounding (12.2) per
"We've just been monitoring game. Rivers is hoping Ante-
it, and it just hasn't improved tokounmpo can play when
enough for us to play him," Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo tries to get past Memphis Grizzlies' Luke Kennard dur- the Bucks get to post-All-Star
Rivers said. ing the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Milwaukee. matchups on Feb. 20.
"If this was a playoff game, Associated Press "We're really hoping that
would he play? Probably yes. of Turkey, Karl-Anthony Towns mother is from Panama). sion on an All-Star replace- when we come out of the
But this is not. And we want (whose mother is Dominican) It is possible that Silver may ment in the coming days as break, we have our team,"
to make sure he's playing in and Donovan Mitchell (whose have to make another deci- well. Dallas forward Anthony Rivers said. "That's the hope.q
the playoffs."
Antetokounmpo missed Mil-
waukee's one-round appear-
ance in last season's playoffs
with a left calf strain. The
Bucks lost to Indiana in six
games.
Antetokounmpo last played
Feb. 2 in the Bucks' 123-119
loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
He was listed as unavailable
due to right patella tendi-
nopathy for the Bucks' 125-96
loss at Oklahoma City the fol-
lowing night, and he's been
out with the calf issue ever
since.
He missed a 112-102 victory
at Charlotte on Wednesday
and a 115-110 loss at Atlanta
on Friday. He went through
warmups in Charlotte, but
was scratched just before
the game.
Antetokounmpo was the
leader in fan votes for the
All-Star Game, which will
be played in San Francisco
on Feb. 16 with a new mini-
tournament format.
Antetokounmpo was to play
on Team Chuck, the eight-
man squad drafted last week
by TNT analyst Charles Bar-
kley. Antetokounmpo was
the fourth of the 24 players
drafted by Barkley, Shaquille
O'Neal and Kenny Smith to
the All-Star rosters.
Team Chuck has a roster
with a very international feel:
Nikola Jokic of Serbia, Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander of Can-
ada, Victor Wembanyama
of France, Pascal Siakam of
Cameroon, Alperen Sengun