Bucks star out vs. Trail Blazers with Achilles tendinitis

MILWAUKEE — MIlwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton will not play Sunday in the team’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers due to left Achilles tendinitis. Middleton left the Bucks’ win over the Washington Wizards on Nov. 24, with what the team originally termed Achilles tightness.

“I think he had some tightness in his left Achilles and so just took him out for precautionary measures and then just to evaluate him tomorrow,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said.

Middleton did not undergo any imaging following the game on Nov. 24, though it’s unclear if that has changed in the time since.

The veteran forward has been off to a slow start this season as he works his way back from off-season knee surgery. He is still not cleared to play in back-to-backs, and has played more than 25 minutes just once. It’s unclear how long he’ll be sidelined with this new ailment, but the silver lining of his return to play plan is that the Bucks know how to play without him.

“Any time you lose a big part of your team it’s an adjustment,” Damian Lillard said. “I think because of the way the season has gone early on with him being on a restriction, he’s sat a few games, I think we’re used to it. We’re used to that hole being there and having to navigate those situations.

“Right now, we’re having a lot of things that are small hurdles for us and things that we gotta improve on and get better at. I think these are all things — his injury, some of the nagging stuff I’ve had going on, just things that we’ve dealt with in these first 15, 16 games as a team, that’s gonna make us better in the end.”

There’s no indication at this time that this is any sort of serious issue, but it is another setback for Middleton, who has really never been himself since suffering an MCL sprain in the first round of the 2022 playoffs. Since then, he has played just 51 games between the regular season and playoffs, dealt with myriad injuries and undergone two surgeries — one on his wrist last summer and one on his knee this summer.

While Middleton will be back on the floor soon, his inability to stay healthy is turning into a real concern for the Bucks. He hasn’t played 10 games in a row since March 2022, nearly two full years ago.