Giannis Antetokounmpo is returning from injury, but is that what's best for the Bucks?
Giannis comes back to a Milwaukee team that is on the outside looking in of the play-in picture
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to return to the lineup Monday night against the Boston Celtics, per ESPN. Antetokounmpo has been sidelined for more than five weeks with a right calf strain.
Antetokounmpo was initially injured during a Jan. 23 loss to the Denver Nuggets, and was given a 4-6 week timeline for recovery. Antetokounmpo, who stayed in Milwaukee through the Feb. 5 trade deadline, will return to a team that has a 26-33 record, and sits 11th in the Eastern Conference.
Three games separate the Bucks from the 10th-placed Hornets and they're only 3.5 games back of the ninth-placed Hawks for the final spots in the East play-in, potentially a small enough gap for a Giannis-led Bucks team to jump them in the standings and try to secure a playoff spot.
Getting a healthy Antetokounmpo back helps this season's Bucks team, but it could come at the cost of positioning for their 2026 draft pick. In a year where the top of the draft board is littered with generational talent and franchise-altering players, the Bucks could play themselves right out of a chance to land one of those top prospects.
The Bucks currently have the 10th-worst record in the NBA. The Hawks will get the more favorable of the Pelicans' and Bucks' picks in this year's draft, and New Orleans is currently 8.5 games worse than Milwaukee. So while the Bucks can't land the No. 1 overall pick in June, they could still find themselves in the top 10 depending how the lottery shakes out.
A higher pick should make their future easier to navigate, whether that's with or without Giannis for the long-term.
But the Bucks appear to be at the mercy of Antetokounmpo, who has toed the line of wanting to be traded while offering confusing sentiments about loyalty and stating on multiple occasions that he'll never request a trade himself. It seems like Antetokounmpo wants Milwaukee to lead this dance, but the Bucks have been unwilling to make the tough decisions -- like sitting Antetokuonmpo for the rest of the season -- that would help their franchise in the long run.
So instead, we'll watch the Bucks and Antetokounmpo fight for a play-in spot even though all the evidence suggests they should be doing everything to improve their draft odds this year.
