{"id":1847207,"date":"2026-03-26T01:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1847207"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:08:29","slug":"doc-rivers-on-nbpas-criticism-of-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-hes-not-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1847207","title":{"rendered":"Doc Rivers on NBPA\u2019s criticism of Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo: \u2018He\u2019s not healthy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers rejected the National Basketball Players Association\u2019s claim that the Bucks are keeping a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo out of games against the star forward\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not (healthy),\u201d Rivers said when asked about the NBPA\u2019s assertion that Antetokounmpo is healthy and not being allowed to play so the Bucks can improve their NBA Draft lottery positioning by tanking. \u201cHe\u2019s progressing. He\u2019s just not healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Bucks listed Antetokounmpo as out for a fifth consecutive game Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers with a bone bruise stemming from a left knee hyperextension Antetokounmpo suffered on March 15<\/a>. The two-time MVP had an awkward landing after a dunk through contact in the third quarter of Milwaukee\u2019s 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus right now is just getting him healthy,\u201d Rivers continued. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get Giannis cleared and healthy. That\u2019s our only focus. All the other stuff, we stay above.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo told reporters after the Pacers game that he felt confident he wouldn\u2019t need imaging on his knee. Yet, the team made him undergo an MRI on his left knee the following day. Rivers called the imaging on Antetokounmpo\u2019s left knee \u201creally good news\u201d before the Bucks\u2019 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 17 and told reporters the image was clean and revealed no ligament damage.<\/p>\n

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Despite that positive update, Antetokounmpo has been ruled out of Milwaukee\u2019s four-game Western Conference road trip. The Athletic<\/i> reported on March 18<\/a> that the Bucks approached Antetokounmpo about being shut down for the season, but the 10-time All-Star rejected the idea.<\/p>\n

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That reporting contributed to the NBPA\u2019s assertion that the Bucks are holding out Antetokounmpo as part of a recently implemented tanking strategy. Rivers denied that idea as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a meeting about this (statement from the NBPA),\u201d Rivers said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have one discussion. (General manager) Jon Horst didn\u2019t call me to talk to me about this, just to show you the concern we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the NBA\u2019s Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, commissioner Adam Silver told reporters he wasn\u2019t aware of the issue with the Bucks until the NBPA issued its statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe knew Giannis was injured,\u201d Silver said. \u201cHe was within the usual period it was taking to come back from that injury, so I was a bit surprised by that (news) release. Yes, when our players\u2019 association, our union, announces they see an issue, of course, we\u2019ll look into it. So that\u2019s where it currently stands. I believe they\u2019ve already announced he\u2019s not playing in their game tonight \u2026 since that announcement came out. So, I have not heard directly, certainly from Giannis or the league hasn\u2019t heard from Giannis to say that he feels he should be on the court right now, but that\u2019s something we will look into.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about Silver\u2019s comments from Wednesday afternoon, Rivers suggested that the league\u2019s looking into an injury is just normal operating procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a big deal,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cMaybe you don\u2019t know this, but they look into every injury. This is nothing new. Probably because it\u2019s been talked about, (Silver) felt the need to say something, but I\u2019ve not been on a team where, when you have injuries, they don\u2019t look at it. So, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything new.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucks (29-42) do not play again until Saturday, when they take on the San Antonio Spurs in the first game of a back-to-back. They are not technically eliminated from playoff contention yet, but they trail the Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic and Miami Heat \u2014 who are in a three-way tie for the final three spots in the Eastern Conference Play-In tournament \u2014 by 8 1\/2 games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers rejected the National Basketball Players Association\u2019s claim that the Bucks are keeping a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo out of games against the star forward\u2019s wishes. \u201cHe\u2019s not (healthy),\u201d Rivers said when asked about the NBPA\u2019s assertion that Antetokounmpo is healthy and not being allowed to play so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1847207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1847207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1847207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1847207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1847207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}