Khris Middleton injury update: Bucks star leaves game vs. Bulls with knee soreness
MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Bucks star Khris Middleton left the team's Game against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night due to right knee soreness in the first quarter. Middleton was later ruled out for the remainder of the Game.
Less than a minute after the opening tip, Middleton drove baseline and missed a fadeaway jumper over Patrick Williams. He appeared to tweak something upon landing, and was moving with a noticeable hitch as ran back down the floor. While he remained in the game to play the rest of his first quarter stint, he missed all three of his shot attempts and did not return after that.
Middleton came up lame after attempting a fadeaway jumper on the Bucks' first offensive possession of tonight's game.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 6, 2023
Here is the video: https://t.co/Tniqs67DRD pic.twitter.com/049KWPvNHe
Middleton has been dealing with injuries on and off for the past year. He missed most of the Bucks' playoff run last season due to a sprained MCL in his left knee, then sat out the first 20 Games of this season while recovering from offseason wrist surgery. Just a few Games after returning, however, he started dealing with irritation in his right knee and was forced to the sideline for another 18 Games.
Since his second return on Jan. 23, Middleton has periodically taken Games off for what the team has deemed "knee injury management." He has not played in both Games of a back-to-back during this stretch and has missed eight total Games. That included the Bucks' win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night, the first of this back-to-back that included the Game against the Bulls.
All along, Middleton and the team have maintained there is nothing seriously wrong with his knee.
"I mean, it's nothing too crazy," Middleton told The Athletic in January. "It's just kind of what I've dealt with every summer ramping back up for the season. Just getting my knee back accustomed to running, jumping, the force, the contact after being off for a long period of time. I know it's kind of vague, but the truth of it is that's all it was. Just the swelling and all of that, we couldn't get it to go away. My leg just wasn't strong enough or conditioned enough to withstand it."
There's a good chance the Bucks removed Middleton from Wednesday's Game as a precaution, but be that as it may, it's not a great sign for him or the team that he's still battling this issue. They're going to need him at 100 percent every single night in the playoffs if they want to get back to the Finals and win a second title in three years.
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