Bucks breathe easy as Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury update is better than expected

Milwaukee Bucks fans got a massive scare Tuesday night as the team’s superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, went down with a non-contact injury in his squad’s 104-91 win over the Boston Celtics. On Wednesday morning, the Bucks got the best injury update they could hope for on the Giannis injury, but they’re not out of the wood yet as they head to the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

“After an MRI, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s left Achilles tendon is fully intact and his return to play will come with how quickly his left calf strain heals, sources tell ESPN,” NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Wednesday morning.

The Bucks had already tweeted out that the injury was a “left soleus strain,” but the Woj Bomb confirmed that there was no Achilles damage.

The difference between a calf strain and a torn Achilles is about as big as it gets when it comes to basketball injuries, so Giannis and the Bucks have to be breathing a sigh of relief after the eight-time All-Star and two-time NBA MVP wet down out of nowhere.

Still, the fact remains Giannis Antetokounmpo did suffer a lower-body injury that will take time to heal, and his teammate Damian Lillard told reporters after the game that he’s had that injury before and “That s**t hurt.”

This comes at the worst time for the team, as they head into their final three regular season games and the 2024 NBA Playoffs after that.

When will the Bucks get Giannis Antetokounmpo back from injury?

When Damian Lillard suffered a soleus strain — the soleus is basically the lower calf muscle connected to the Achilles — he says it took him about two weeks to return to action, which was more than the “eight or nine days” it took him to return from a normal calf strain.

This means Antetokounmpo is definitely out for the last three regular season games, with two against the Orlando Magic with one vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in between. Missing these games is better than missing an entire playoff series, but this certainly isn’t ideal for the Bucks.

The Eastern Conference is incredibly tight during the stretch run, with the two through eight seeds separated by just four games in the loss column with three or four to play. That means if the Bucks lose out, they could go from second all the way to sixth in the conference in the next four days.

Obviously, the biggest threat here is the Magic, a team with a 46-33 record to the Bucks 48-31. If Orlando sweeps Milwaukee in their upcoming two-game series, there is a good chance the Magic jump the Bucks in the standings.

There is a little more good news for the Bucks here, too, though, as getting a two, three, or four seed is all about the same for them. They’ll still have homecourt advantage, and dropping to three or four could allow them to avoid the Miami Heat or Philadelphia 76ers in Round 1, which isn’t the worst thing. Going to a five or six-seed would be bad, as it would cost them home court.

Milwaukee’s biggest worry now is when Giannis Antetokounmpo will return from injury. Two weeks puts him back on April 23 or 24. The 2024 NBA Playoffs kick off on April 20, so it is likely he will miss at least the first two games of the opening round.