Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly to see specialist, get more testing on wrist

2023 NBA All-Star – NBA All-Star Game

SALT LAKE CITY — Giannis Antetokounmpo played 20 seconds in Sunday’s All-Star Game, scoring the first bucket of the night on a dunk then intentionally fouling Luka Dončić and subbing himself out.

The reason is a sprained wrist — which he had taped up — suffered in the Bucks’ final game before the All-Star break. It’s serious enough that he is headed to New York to see a specialist and get further testing, reports Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“Taking it day by day, try to get healthy,” Antetokounmpo said after the game when asked about his wrist. “You know, obviously, I had the incident three days ago. I don’t think it’s smart in any way to, you know, play a lot of minutes in the All-Star Game.

“At the end of the day, obviously, you want to participate, you want to run up and down, joke around, have some dunks, create some work. But at the end of the day, I feel you also have to be mature. Hard decision, but mature decision to take a break here, take care of it, and hopefully I can be available for my team when they need me.”

Antetokounmpo sprained his wrist Thursday night against the Bulls when he went for the block off the backboard of a Coby White shot. Antetokounmpo fell into the stanchion, breaking his fall with his right hand, leading to the sprain.

Antetokounmpo has played at an MVP level this season, averaging 31.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists a game for the Bucks.

Milwaukee, sitting as the No. 2 seed in the East and having won 12 games in a row coming into the break, is not going to race Antetokounmpo back on the court — they will prioritize him being healthy for the playoffs. There has been no official description of the injury nor a timeline for his return released. The specialist in New York may have some say over those things.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly to see specialist, get more testing on wrist originally appeared on NBCSports.com