- Bucks wing Wesley Matthews is no longer listed in the health and safety protocols, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets. Milwaukee still has three players in the protocols, including Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Forward Bobby Portis is the latest Bucks player to be placed under the league’s health and safety protocols, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donte DiVincenzo and Wesley Matthews are already listed out for Friday’s game against the Pelicans for the same reason. Brook Lopez and Semi Ojeleye are injured and Thanasis Antetokounmpo is listed as doubtful due to a right soleus strain. That will leave the Bucks with 10 players if there are no more developments.
- Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is hopeful that two-time All-Star Khris Middleton could return as soon as Friday, Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays (Twitter link). Middleton suffered a hyperextended knee on Monday and warmed up prior to Wednesday’s game.
Bucks shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo, who had been set to make his season debut on Wednesday against the Pacers, will be instead sidelined a while longer, having being placed in the NBA’s health and safety coronavirus protocols, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
DiVincenzo has been sidelined since undergoing ankle surgery in June during Milwaukee’s title run, but had been planning to play in his first game of the 2021/22 NBA season for the Bucks tomorrow.
The 6’4″ guard is the third Bucks player to enter the league’s COVID-19 protocols today, along with All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and reserve wing Wesley Matthews. Despite some early-season adversity caused by several injury absences (including DiVincenzo’s), the Bucks had appeared to right the ship lately, reaching an 18-11 record thus far.
The Bucks added shooting guard Grayson Allen via trade in the offseason to supplement the anticipated early-season absence of DiVincenzo. While Allen received an incentive-laden two-year contract extension worth up to $19.5MM in October, DiVincenzo didn’t reach an agreement on a rookie scale contract extension with the Bucks in time for the regular season deadline and is poised to become a restricted free agent this summer. The longer the team thrives with Allen, the more expendable DiVincenzo could become in the 2022 offseason.
- Khris Middleton suffered a hyperextended left knee on Monday but Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is optimistic the injury isn’t significant, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. “We’ll know more (Tuesday), but I think there’s some hope that it’s not serious,” he said. “But you’ve got to weigh it and give it time.”
- Bucks guard George Hill will not play on consecutive days in the near future, Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Hill is returning from a hyperextended right knee and sat out the team’s game against Boston on Monday. Hill played the front end of the back-to-back on Sunday, going scoreless in 14 minutes against the Knicks.
- When Donte DiVincenzo makes his season debut this week, he will return to a Bucks team that has changed since DiVincenzo suffered an ankle injury in the playoffs, notes Brian Sampson of Forbes. The offseason addition of Grayson Allen, who has become a starter in the backcourt and has provided a shooting upgrade, will likely push DiVincenzo into a reserve role, but he remains valuable because of his defense and rebounding.
Donte DiVincenzo will make his season debut on Wednesday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
DiVincenzo was a fixture in the Bucks’ starting lineup last season while averaging 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3.1 APG. He suffered a torn ligament in his left ankle during the third game of Milwaukee’s first-round sweep of Miami and underwent surgery in June.
He’s been rehabbing with the G League’s Wisconsin Herd recently while preparing for his return to action.
The Bucks didn’t sign DiVincenzo to a rookie scale extension before the season, so he’ll be a restricted free agent next summer.
DiVincenzo will provide an immediate boost to the Bucks’ backcourt. Grayson Allen has become Jrue Holiday‘s backcourt partner in DiVincenzo’s absence and is averaging 13.0 PPG. Key reserve George Hill has been sidelined the past week with a knee issue.
The Bucks are finishing up a road swing in New York and Boston before returning home to play Indiana on Wednesday.
The 4-19 Pistons, losers of nine straight games, are currently sole owners of the NBA’s worst record. Happily from a big-picture perspective, intriguing rookie guard Cade Cunningham is showing promising early signs of development, details James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.
Cunningham was shelved for Detroit’s entire preseason and the early portion of the 2021/22 regular season with an ankle injury, but has come on in a big way across the Pistons’ last four games. In that time, Cunningham has averaged 22 PPG while shooting 51% from the floor and 50% from deep, along with 7.7 RPG and 3.2 APG. Overall, the 6’6″ point guard is averaging 14.9 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 4.6 APG across the 18 games he has played this season.
“I feel like my voice is heard in the locker room,” Cunningham said of where he stands on the Pistons roster. “That hasn’t been a problem for me. We have a good group of guys.”
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Injured Bucks starting shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo will continue to rehabilitate with Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic. DiVincenzo will practice with the Herd ahead of an anticipated return to the floor for the Bucks. The 24-year-old tore an ankle ligament during the first series of the Bucks’ 2020/21 title run. Last year, the Villanova alum averaged 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3.1 across 66 regular season games for Milwaukee.
- After it was floated earlier today that the Pacers would be open to offloading players following an underwhelming 10-16 season start under the stewardship of new head coach Rick Carlisle, Evan Sidery of Basketball News has cooked up some intriguing potential trade destinations for swingman Caris LeVert. Clubs like the Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Jazz Mavericks and Pelicans are all considered fits by Sidery. Sidery notes that LeVert has become movable thanks in part due to the emergence of rookie wing Chris Duarte.
- As the Pacers look to shake up their roster, Clark Wade of The Indianapolis Star wonders which Indiana players the club should trade. The markets for big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, plus lead guard Malcolm Brogdon, all good players on agreeable contracts, should be robust, though Brogdon won’t be trade-eligible until the offseason.
- Fourth-year guard Donte DiVincenzo is nearing a return for the Bucks, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). DiVincenzo has been assigned to the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, and Charania says DiVincenzo could make his season debut in December. He’s been recovering from left ankle surgery. DiVincenzo will be a restricted free agent this summer if the Bucks tender him a qualifying offer.