Will the big names play?
While the Bucks had very little problem securing their opening preseason win against the Bulls earlier in the week, the big question that all Bucks fans will be asking is whether we’ll see some of their star players in action versus the Jazz.
All of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, Ersan Ilyasova, Kyle Korver, and D.J. Wilson were sidelined for Monday night’s game, with Wilson’s absence being the only one that was injury related. With that said, head coach Mike Budenholzer suggested that won’t be the case for future preseason games as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Matt Velazquez relayed before Monday night’s game.
Bud intimated that the guys who are out today would probably be available during the upcoming 3 games this week. Said with the open scrimmage yesterday this is kind of like a back-to-back and he wanted to give those guys a rest.
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) October 7, 2019
Certainly seeing the Bucks’ core pieces in action will bring some much needed spice to the proceedings. But it’s important to note that the likes of Antetokounmpo, Ilyasova and Middleton are all coming off of busy summers playing basketball for their respective countries and further maintenance will likely be in store for them, as well as potentially Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.
In any event, we’ll just have to wait and see whether any of those that missed Monday’s game will make their preseason debuts against Utah Wednesday night.