Bucks' Jon Horst on Giannis Antetkounmpo's injury status: 'He's not cleared to play yet'

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Though Antetokounmpo has professed he is healthy and could be available to play, the team remains steadfast in its contention its star forward has not yet been medically cleared. “He’s not cleared to play yet in a game,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst told The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Tuesday. “And we’re going to continue to evaluate it. I don’t know what the outcome in that world will be, but the only lens has been to make our best professional judgment for him and for us. “And it has nothing to do with draft picks. It has nothing to do with tanking. It has everything to do with the health of the player.” Horst’s opinion is the latest chapter in a saga that has lasted over three weeks. In the third quarter of the Bucks’ 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers, Antetokounmpo left the game after hyperextending his left knee on an awkward landing after a dunk. Though he attempted to convince the team’s medical staff to let him back in the game, Antetokounmpo remained sidelined as the Bucks built up a double-digit lead and closed out a win. What has occurred in the three weeks since that initial injury remains in dispute by Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. Before the Bucks’ game March 17, the Bucks listed Antetokounmpo as out with a bone bruise from his left knee hyperextension. Including Tuesday’s contest in Brooklyn, he has missed 12 consecutive games with that injury. On March 18, The Athletic reported the Bucks asked Antetokounmpo to shut himself down for the remainder of the season, but the star forward rebuffed the idea. On March 24, the National Basketball Players Association released a statement asserting Antetokounmpo was healthy enough to play and the Bucks were holding him out as part of a tanking effort to improve their draft pick. On March 25, Adam Silver told reporters the league would be looking into the matter after the Board of Governors meeting. Before the Bucks’ 133-101 loss to the Boston Celtics, Antetokounmpo talked to The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and publicly said he could have been made available by the team at any point in the two weeks since he had been sidelined and he was ready to play that night. That conversation also led to the revelation the league was investigating the situation, just as Silver had told reporters a week earlier. As a part of that investigation, the league said it had found the two parties disagree on the nature of the return-to-play protocol needed for Antetokounmpo to get back on the floor. The team said it told Antetokounmpo he needed to participate in a three-on-three session to get to the next portion of his rehab, and Antetokounmpo declined to participate. “Listen, I think he’s been working to get himself back because he wants to play, and I love that he wants to play,” Horst said Tuesday. “And I think we are continuously on a day-by-day basis evaluating, in our professional judgment, whether or not that’s the right thing and the lens is his health. And that’s what’s best for the organization.” When asked whether he believes the team has clearly delineated a path for Antetokounmpo to return to action, Horst told The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Antetokounmpo has “been given a rehab plan” to get back on the floor and added he will know more Thursday, the same day the Bucks play the Detroit Pistons, as the team continues to monitor Antetokounmpo’s progress toward returning to game action. “He wants to play and has been rehabbing. That’s one of the many reasons he’s great,” Horst said. “We haven’t cleared him yet for a game but will continue to evaluate.” As part of his interview with The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel before the Celtics game, Antetokounmpo shared that he believes someone who thinks he isn’t being earnest about his desire to play again this season would be an “idiot,” especially considering that his youngest brother, Alex, has played in the last four games and there is a chance for him to play with two of his brothers for the first time in his NBA career. Getting on the floor with Alex and Thanasis would mean an awful lot to Giannis, so does the organization see providing that opportunity, potentially in the Bucks’ home finale Friday against the Nets, as a way to improve their relationship with their star forward? “It’s a good question,” Horst said. “I care because of the partnership and everything that we’ve done together, what I hope we continue to do together, everything he’s done for me personally. Organizationally, we care what Giannis thinks. Of course. And I hope he cares what we think and what we feel, but you have to make tough decisions in tough circumstances, and the lens, again, is to make the best professional judgment that we can that’s best for him and us regarding his health. “That is ruling everything. That’s really all that we care about. It’s none of the other stuff. There’s no gamesmanship here. There’s no angling. We just care about doing what’s right for him and for us from a health perspective.” Ultimately, though, the Bucks will still need to do what is best for the organization and hope Antetokounmpo understands their decision. “Of course, I care about what he feels and what he cares about. And I have his entire career,” Horst said. “And he cares, hopefully, what I care about and what I feel and the organization. And he has said as much in a lot of this stuff. But it doesn’t mean that you always just do what someone else wants. Like you can still care and not do what they want.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Eric Nehm is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Milwaukee Bucks. Previously, he covered the Bucks at ESPN Milwaukee and wrote the book "100 Things Bucks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." Nehm was named NSMA's 2022 Wisconsin Sports Writer of the Year. Follow Eric on Twitter @eric_nehm