{"id":1870788,"date":"2026-04-08T00:22:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1870788"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:22:41","slug":"bucks-gm-on-giannis-standoff-nothing-to-do-with-tanking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1870788","title":{"rendered":"Bucks GM on Giannis standoff: \u2018Nothing to do with tanking\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 As they prepared for Tuesday\u2019s game against the Brooklyn Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks once again listed two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo as out with a bone bruise stemming from a left knee hyperextension. Though Antetokounmpo has professed he is healthy and could be available to play, the team remains steadfast in its contention its star forward has not yet been medically cleared.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s not cleared to play yet in a game,\u201d Bucks general manager Jon Horst told The Athletic<\/em> and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Tuesday. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to continue to evaluate it. I don\u2019t know what the outcome in that world will be, but the only lens has been to make our best professional judgment for him and for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it has nothing to do with draft picks. It has nothing to do with tanking. It has everything to do with the health of the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horst\u2019s opinion is the latest chapter in a saga that has lasted over three weeks. In the third quarter of the Bucks\u2019 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers, Antetokounmpo left the game after hyperextending his left knee on an awkward landing after a dunk. Though he attempted to convince the team\u2019s medical staff to let him back in the game, Antetokounmpo remained sidelined as the Bucks built up a double-digit lead and closed out a win.<\/p>\n

What has occurred in the three weeks since that initial injury remains in dispute by Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.<\/p>\n

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Before the Bucks\u2019 game March 17, the Bucks listed Antetokounmpo as out with a bone bruise from his left knee hyperextension. Including Tuesday\u2019s contest in Brooklyn, he has missed 12 consecutive games with that injury.<\/p>\n

On March 18, The Athletic<\/em> reported the Bucks asked Antetokounmpo to shut himself down for the remainder of the season, but the star forward rebuffed the idea. On March 24, the National Basketball Players Association released a statement asserting Antetokounmpo was healthy enough to play and the Bucks were holding him out as part of a tanking effort to improve their draft pick. On March 25, Adam Silver told reporters the league would be looking into the matter after the Board of Governors meeting.<\/p>\n

Before the Bucks\u2019 133-101 loss to the Boston Celtics, Antetokounmpo talked to The Athletic<\/em> and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and publicly said he could have been made available by the team at any point in the two weeks since he had been sidelined and he was ready to play that night. That conversation also led to the revelation the league was investigating the situation, just as Silver had told reporters a week earlier.<\/p>\n

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As a part of that investigation, the league said it had found the two parties disagree on the nature of the return-to-play protocol needed for Antetokounmpo to get back on the floor. The team said it told Antetokounmpo he needed to participate in a three-on-three session to get to the next portion of his rehab, and Antetokounmpo declined to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I think he\u2019s been working to get himself back because he wants to play, and I love that he wants to play,\u201d Horst said Tuesday. \u201cAnd I think we are continuously on a day-by-day basis evaluating, in our professional judgment, whether or not that\u2019s the right thing and the lens is his health. And that\u2019s what\u2019s best for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether he believes the team has clearly delineated a path for Antetokounmpo to return to action, Horst told The Athletic<\/em> and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Antetokounmpo has \u201cbeen given a rehab plan\u201d to get back on the floor and added he will know more Thursday, the same day the Bucks play the Detroit Pistons, as the team continues to monitor Antetokounmpo\u2019s progress toward returning to game action.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to play and has been rehabbing. That\u2019s one of the many reasons he\u2019s great,\u201d Horst said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t cleared him yet for a game but will continue to evaluate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his interview with The Athletic<\/em> and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel before the Celtics game, Antetokounmpo shared that he believes someone who thinks he isn\u2019t being earnest about his desire to play again this season would be an \u201cidiot,\u201d especially considering that his youngest brother, Alex, has played in the last four games and there is a chance for him to play with two of his brothers for the first time in his NBA career.<\/p>\n

Getting on the floor with Alex and Thanasis would mean an awful lot to Giannis, so does the organization see providing that opportunity, potentially in the Bucks\u2019 home finale Friday against the Nets, as a way to improve their relationship with their star forward?<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a good question,\u201d Horst said. \u201cI care because of the partnership and everything that we\u2019ve done together, what I hope we continue to do together, everything he\u2019s done for me personally. Organizationally, we care what Giannis thinks. Of course. And I hope he cares what we think and what we feel, but you have to make tough decisions in tough circumstances, and the lens, again, is to make the best professional judgment that we can that\u2019s best for him and us regarding his health.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat is ruling everything. That\u2019s really all that we care about. It\u2019s none of the other stuff. There\u2019s no gamesmanship here. There\u2019s no angling. We just care about doing what\u2019s right for him and for us from a health perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, the Bucks will still need to do what is best for the organization and hope Antetokounmpo understands their decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I care about what he feels and what he cares about. And I have his entire career,\u201d Horst said. \u201cAnd he cares, hopefully, what I care about and what I feel and the organization. And he has said as much in a lot of this stuff. But it doesn\u2019t mean that you always just do what someone else wants. Like you can still care and not do what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 As they prepared for Tuesday\u2019s game against the Brooklyn Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks once again listed two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo as out with a bone bruise stemming from a left knee hyperextension. Though Antetokounmpo has professed he is healthy and could be available to play, the team remains steadfast in its […]<\/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-1870788","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\/1870788","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=1870788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1870788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1870788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1870788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}