After more than a month on the shelf, Khris Middleton will finally make his much-awaited return to action for the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns. This will be the first time Middleton will play since February 7 after suffering a left ankle sprain, and it has been a long and tedious road to recovery for the 32-year-old.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has now opened up about Middleton’s condition heading into his first game back after missing 16 consecutive contests.
Milwaukee Bucks Coach Doc Rivers
As expected, Rivers confirmed that Middleton will be on some sort of minutes limit on Sunday. The tenured coach, however, did not reveal how much time he expects the three-time All-Star to spend on the floor against Phoenix:
“He did great today. No hesitation. It looked like Khris Middleton,” Rivers said after Saturday’s practice, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “So, we are happy. I’m sure it’ll be a minute something, which coaches just love the minute things. We’ll just figure it out.”
Middleton has averaged 26.3 minutes in 43 appearances this season. His minutes will likely be in the low 20s on Sunday, if not less. As Rivers said, the Bucks intend to take a wait-and-see approach with their prized swingman.
Either way, you can be sure that the team will be extremely cautious in bringing Middleton back before he is given the green light to get a full load.
Doc Rivers Gets Brutally Honest on Khris Middleton
Rivers pointed out that he’s only had very little time to coach Middleton. The 32-year-old suffered an injury just three games into Rivers’ tenure, and as mentioned earlier, he has since missed 16 in a row.
According to Coach Doc, he currently has a very vague idea of how Middleton will be able to help the Bucks moving forward:
“I don’t know yet because I’ve not had him,” Rivers said. “(Had him in) two games, three games. … So I’m just going to organically watch. I know (I have) some thoughts. I know having the other offensive guy really allows us to play both sides of the floor.
“I thought at times with Dame (Lillard) and Giannis (Antetokounmpo), we got one-side oriented and didn’t move it. We’d swing it and it’d go back to the same side. With Khris on the other side at times, we can now develop going from a two-man game to a three-man game.”
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