After a day full of Giannis Antetokounmpo trade chatter, the Greek Freak suffered an injury just three minutes into Wednesday's contest. Giannis went down to the floor untouched, noticeably grabbing at his calf immediately. He walked off on his own power and was swiftly ruled out with what the team has deemed a calf strain.
Obviously, a calf strain feels like the best case scenario here. Bucks fans were quick to recall Damian Lillard dropping to the floor in last year's playoffs after tearing his Achilles. The Bucks could work with a calf strain, no matter what direction they take in the coming weeks. However, an Achilles injury would make things far more troubling. A difficult day just got a lot more worrisome.
A Giannis injury derails everything, no matter what direction Bucks go
The Milwaukee Bucks want Giannis to stay. Doc Rivers, clearly fed up, said before the game that the Greek Freak has never requested a trade, no matter what analysts say. If the Bucks wanted to put any of this trade talk to bed, the simple formula was to win games. Well, the team just went on a five-game losing streak without Giannis, so that's going to be much more difficult if he misses extended time.
The timing is crushing, given that the Bucks were finally starting to get healthy, gearing up for what could have been a resurgent stretch. Now, they might not have their star in the lineup for a while.
Then there's the other side of the coin.
If Giannis is injured, his intrigue across the league dips. If this injury is more severe than the initial diagnosis, such as a scenario where he's out for the rest of the year, a trade inevitably gets taken off the table. Then, Giannis stays put, but the Milwaukee Bucks will struggle to win many games and will find themselves near the bottom of the standings while the forward recovers.
All Bucks fans can hope for is that Giannis is healthy. Trade chatter or not, this team cannot be the best version of themselves without him on the floor. If they want to turn things around, they need a two-way superstar leading the charge. For now, it's all about the waiting game and for the team to reveal the next injury update. It could change everything for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks don't want to trade Giannis. They've made that clear. Parting with him after going all in to maximize his prime feels like a nightmare scenario. As does him being hurt. Things are grim.
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