Giannis Antetokounmpo Timetable Unknown, Could he Return?

After an ugly first half of basketball that saw a lack-luster Milwaukee Bucks team trailing the Atlanta Hawks — who were without Trae Young, by the way — by double-digits, it didn’t seem like things could get much worse. But the third quarter was a good reminder that they always can.

Trying to break up what ended up being an alley-oop to Clint Capela, Giannis Antetokounmpo landed awkwardly and hyper-extended his left knee. After receiving help from the training staff, Giannis eventually walked off with some help from his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo, but largely on his own.

A few minutes later, he was spotted standing along the Milwaukee Bucks bench but headed back into the tunnel a short while later. While no one knew for certain at that time what the injury was, based on how it looked, most assumed the worst.

Giannis Antetokounmpo would undergo an MRI on Wednesday, which to the surprise of many, revealed some good news given the circumstances.

According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, there was “no structural damage” to Giannis’ knee, and the “ligaments are sound.” Lowe would also mention that there is no timetable for his return.

Had this been a more significant injury such as an ACL tear along with a number of other possibilities, Antetokounmpo would have likely missed a good portion of the 2021-2022 season, and who knows, maybe even all of it.

"“When you talk about the range of possibilities I think where this has landed has to be looked at as a positive,” Coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters."

So with the official injury designation as a hyperextended knee and the Giannis’ timetable unknown, the big question is, when will he return?

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, and that is that it’s incredibly difficult to project when a player is going to return from an injury, especially one of this nature. But since there is no ligament damage, long-term, I believe it’s safe to say that Antetokounmpo will be ready for next season. And considering how bad the injury looked, that alone is fantastic news.

However, what we all want to know is if he will return for these playoffs. In this instance, I would advise that fans don’t get their hopes up, and the expectation shouldn’t be that he’s going to return. With that said, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible either, especially with the verbiage used by the Milwaukee Bucks themselves.

While I don’t believe anyone expected Giannis to take the court in Game 5, his official designation at this time is doubtful. The team very easily could have just listed him as out. Does this mean that a return at some point is a possibility?

Then when Coach Mike Budenholzer was asked about Giannis on Wednesday, he told reporters that the plan was to take it “day by day.” Again, not something you’d expect someone to say if this is any injury where the individual has no hope of returning.

I also think it’s worth mentioning that in his report, Lowe used the word “sound” when describing the ligaments. There are a number of words he could have chosen to use, but choosing “sound” tells us that those ligaments are not only intact but are still strong. If true, that would hopefully mean that the chances of Antetokounmpo further damaging his knee would be relatively small.

Could there be some gamesmanship on the Bucks part with all of this? Perhaps. But as we’ve seen, we also shouldn’t doubt Giannis either.

Ultimately, the Bucks have to do what’s best for Giannis in the long term. So for now, I wouldn’t expect that we see Antetokounmpo at all for the remainder of the Eastern Conference Finals, which means it’s going to come down to Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton to lead the way, along with some major help from the supporting cast.

After that, if the Bucks are able to advance to the NBA Finals, as I already mentioned, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. With that said, he is dubbed the Greek Freak for a reason.