MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Bucks star Khris Middleton underwent an MRI on his injured right knee on Thursday, which came back clean, according to The Athletic. He will spend the next week rehabbing with the goal of being ready for the start of the playoffs.
Middleton tweaked his knee in the first quarter of the Bucks' 105-92 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
"Just a right knee soreness, a re-aggravation of something that we've been working with him on all year," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said after the win over the Bulls. "That's what I got."
Prior to the Bucks' game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, Budenholzer was asked about the status of three injured Bucks players, including Middleton. "There's a lot between now and the beginning of the week, but hopefully they'll all continue to make progress, Budenholzer said. " We're hopeful that they'll practice and be ready go to
Less than a minute after the opening tip, Middleton drove baseline and missed a fadeaway jumper over Patrick Williams. He appeared to tweak something upon landing, and was moving with a noticeable hitch as ran back down the floor. While he remained in the game to play the rest of his first quarter stint, he missed all three of his shot attempts and did not return after that.
Middleton came up lame after attempting a fadeaway jumper on the Bucks' first offensive possession of tonight's game.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 6, 2023
Here is the video: https://t.co/Tniqs67DRD pic.twitter.com/049KWPvNHe
Middleton has been dealing with injuries on and off for the past year. He missed most of the Bucks' playoff run last season due to a sprained MCL in his left knee, then sat out the first 20 games of this season while recovering from offseason wrist surgery. Just a few games after returning, however, he started dealing with irritation in his right knee and was forced to the sideline for another 18 games.
Since his second return on Jan. 23, Middleton has periodically taken games off for what the team has deemed "knee injury management." He has not played in both games of a back-to-back during this stretch and has missed eight total games. That included the Bucks' win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night, the first of this back-to-back that included the game against the Bulls.
All along, Middleton and the team have maintained there is nothing seriously wrong with his knee.
"I mean, it's nothing too crazy," Middleton told The Athletic in January. "It's just kind of what I've dealt with every summer ramping back up for the season. Just getting my knee back accustomed to running, jumping, the force, the contact after being off for a long period of time. I know it's kind of vague, but the truth of it is that's all it was. Just the swelling and all of that, we couldn't get it to go away. My leg just wasn't strong enough or conditioned enough to withstand it."
While Middleton escaped a significant injury, the fact that he's still dealing with this knee issue is not a great sign for him or the team. They're going to need him at 100 percent every single night in the playoffs if they want to get back to the Finals and win a second title in three years.
