The Milwaukee Bucks will be without two of their starters on Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. Malik Beasley is a late scratch with a back injury, while Khris Middleton is set to miss his 16th consecutive game in a row due to a left ankle sprain.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers was inevitably asked to provide an update on the three-time All-Star who, unfortunately, has taken a significantly long time to recover from an ankle injury.
No Significant Update from Milwaukee Bucks Coach Doc Rivers on Khris Middleton Front
Rivers was banging on the same drum again on Thursday night ahead of their game against the Sixers. The tenured shot-caller reiterated that Middleton is nearing his comeback but at the same time, Rivers refused to provide a firm target date for his return:
“He’s just not ready,” Rivers said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “He’s close, as I’ve said for, I don’t know, 10 games now, it feels like it, but he’s really close. I’ll stop there.”
As Rivers stated, this is pretty much the exact same statement he’s released about Middleton for the past couple of weeks. At this point, it does sound a bit concerning that the three-time All-Star still hasn’t progressed significantly despite being “close.”
The Bucks get two days off before they return to action on Sunday to host Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns. According to Coach Doc, they intend to use the next couple of days to try and push Middleton toward his much-anticipated return to action:
“It does help,” Rivers said. “We have two days off. And we may practice on both days, which is unusual to do, number one, and unusual that you have two days. But we feel like we may do it regardless, just to get him some time with the guys.”
Up until this point, however, we still have no clue when Middleton will be finally ready to go.
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