Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves Monday’s game with groin injury and won’t return

Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo injured his groin just three minutes before halftime in Monday’s Milwaukee Bucks game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The nine-time All-Star appeared to have changed something early in the game, but he played with it. Then, with 3:16 left in the second half, he attempted a layup through contact and missed. As soon as he landed, he winced in pain but managed to get down the field and commit a defensive foul. He immediately walked off the pitch and into the dressing room and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the match.

It’s too early to have an exact timeline on how long Antetokounmpo’s absence will last, but the way he failed to run and how quickly he left the court and headed to the locker room are not positive signs. Even groin injuries that don’t seem serious at first, like the one suffered by Magic forward Paolo Banchero last week, can lead to an absence of at least a week. Teams also tend to be more cautious with stars like Antetokounmpo, especially early in the season, as we’ve seen with the Spurs decide to keep Victor Wembanyama out for 2-3 weeks due to a calf strain.

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Antetokounmpo was in the midst of another solid performance Monday, putting up 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and one steal in 13 minutes on 6-10 shooting from the field. On the season, the 30-year-old is 2nd in the NBA in points per game with 32.6, while also averaging 11.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.3 blocks for the Bucks.

Milwaukee started the second half with Jericho Sims in the lineup for Antetokounmpo. That was Sims’ first time in the game Monday, and the 27-year-old entered the game averaging 1.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 6.8 minutes per game on the season. If Antetokounmpo were to miss an extended period of time, it remains to be seen how Milwaukee would try to plug the hole in their lineup, but his loss would be nearly insurmountable.