MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For the first time this season, three-time All-Star Khris Middleton spoke with reporters during a quick session in the visiting locker room at FedEx Forum.
Middleton has been a regular presence around the team this season, going through workouts at the end of various shootarounds and practices, but the 13-year NBA veteran has not appeared in a game in the 2024-25 season. During training camp in Irvine, Calif., Middleton told The Athletic that he would like to play in at least 70 games this season after playing in a combined 88 games in the last two regular seasons.
“Having a successful season out there is playing damn near 82 games,” Middleton said. “Understanding that there may be a couple games where you can’t go because you got kneed to the thigh or something like a bad ankle sprain, those types of things, you miss one or two games. But not playing only 60 games. Anything below 70, 75 games, no, I do not consider that a successful season for me.”
During his pregame availability, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers once again declined to give a timeline estimate for Middleton’s return to the floor. Despite his positive preseason disposition, Middleton’s name has not left the injury report and the 33-year-old wing has not participated in the five-on-five sessions needed to clear him for game action.
Here is the conversation.
Where are you physically?
I feel good, just not good enough to play that’s all. That’s really all I can say at this point. And just working to get back on the court. I’m feeling better and better each day just not good enough to play yet.
How does this process go? How much of it is telling the training staff how you feel and working with them?
I think that doesn’t just go for me, that’s with any athlete going through any type of injury. Even you guys, you go to the doctor. It’s the same thing. We know our bodies the best. I mean, we have the timeframes, what things should look like, how things are supposed to go and at the same time you have to know how your body is and know where your body is at that stage through those processes. That’s how it’s always been. Like I said I’ve been trending in the right direction every day really, just haven’t been able to be good enough to go out there and play yet.
Is part of the time it takes to get you back on the floor dealing with the difference between court movement and the actual pounding of playing NBA basketball?
It’s definitely a part of it. With a lower extremity injury, you do have to get used to the pounding, you do have to get the range of motion back, the strength back. So, it all goes hand-in-hand. That’s been part of my rehab process, strength, getting the range of motion, getting the conditioning to make sure my legs are as strong and as stable as they can be. It’s a long process for some of us guys.
During our training camp conversation, you told me that the goal was to keep ramping up minutes. So, is there a certain number of minutes you want to start with in your first appearance? Does that affect when the ramp-up begins?
You ask any athlete they will say they want to play as much as they can, but at the end of the day, we have to listen to our training staff and our coaching staff. We don’t get to control our minutes. So I can go out there and say I want to play 40 minutes and they’re gonna say no, we’re gonna play you five minutes. So, I mean, that’s on them for the most part and I just have to listen and be coachable and be a respectful team member because they have a plan for the team and myself also.
You’ve had to ramp up a couple of times, is it easier since you’ve done it before and you’ve gotten to the playoffs to play full games?
Yeah. Of course, you’re not going to like it. Of course, I’ve seen it works. But I mean, no player wants to go through that. So hopefully when I come back I can prove I don’t need to be doing that type of program or plan, but at the end of the day, it goes to them and how they see me playing.
Throughout your career, you’ve gone through a number of knee injuries. Because we’re talking about ankles in this situation, has the process been vastly different?
It’s really the same process. First, those guys making sure everything is healed correctly. Then, getting the range of motion and strength, and then conditioning. It’s an every day, multiple times a day process. So, you know it’s part of it. You have to trick yourself into saying you love it to get through and that’s just where I’m at — trying to get through so I can be out there with the guys. I credit them. They’ve been patient with me, the team, the organization has been patient with me and understanding that we all want me to be healthy as much as possible. And me being on the plan I’m on right now, they’re letting me do that and encouraging me to do that.
How much harder has it been to be on the sidelines with a 1-3 start?
You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. We think we lost some winnable games, but I think the most important thing about ourselves is we’re learning about ourselves. We’re learning what we’re missing. We’re learning what we need. We’re learning what we’re doing well. And I think it just brings us closer together as a unit. Talking, collaborating, making sure we’re all holding each other accountable when we’re seeing stuff out there now. So, I think it’s great to go through adversity at any point in the season. We don’t want to go through this at the end. You don’t really want to go through it, but you have to at some point to be a great team.
It’s been four months since surgery for one of your ankles and five months for the other. To be clear, the surgeries were successful and you have healed?
Yeah.
So, there wasn’t a situation where something went wrong recently and there was a setback?
There’s been no setbacks, no concerning things that had me saying I need to take some days off or whatever. There’s just every day, every day trying to make the next step without blowing this thing up and doing it smartly. Just for myself, for the team, for the everything, for the long term, for the health of my career.
It must be encouraging that there have not been any setbacks, even if you aren’t back yet …
Yeah. Of course. Definitely. You don’t want to go through that (a setback), so that’s why I’m happy about where I’m at. I’m frustrated that I’m not playing yet, but I’m happy with where I’m at. Each day, when I go home, when I lay my head down at night, I feel like I had a great day. I’ve improved some way, somehow, which I’m happy about. Gotta figure out how to take the small win day by day and that’s all I’ve been trying to do.
You said on media day that the one injury occurred back in February when you landed on Kevin Durant’s foot and the other was during the Pacers series. Do you feel physically like you’ve been put back together? Do you feel as healthy?
Yeah, I’ve been through a lot. I’m blessed to say that I feel great. I feel like my body overall is in a great situation and with these last procedures, I’m just trying to make sure that I get both ankles to where everything else has felt after my procedures. I feel like I’m well on my way and I just have to continue to stay patient and listen to my body.
With having both ankles operated on, how did you go about trying to do cardio at the start of all of this?
So, we alternated them to start, but yeah, I couldn’t really do anything weight-bearing until both of them were cleared. So, that’s how that went, so I couldn’t do any conditioning until I could do weight-bearing stuff on both feet, but that was long ago in the summertime.
Doc Rivers told us that you were able to do all the skeleton work during training camp and the preseason, so where do you feel like you are with the offense and how you will fit in with Dame and Giannis when you come back? And how helpful was that to at least be able to walk through stuff with your teammates?
I think I’m as far as I can be with the situation being what it is, but all of that is talk. We won’t really know until we get out there. But we’re trying. I’m trying. We’ve had great film sessions, great practices, great shootarounds. I’ve been involved on the court with them. I’ve been having conversations with guys off the court about what I see and how I think I could fit in and help too in certain situations. But that’s all I can do right now. Lead, communicate from the side, jump in as much as I can, but not disrupt their game rhythm, their rotations and stuff like that. So, we’re trying, but we really won’t know until I get out there. Hopefully, it goes smoothly. That’s why we’re doing this stuff right now.
You could have not traveled and just rehabbed from Milwaukee. For you personally, what has it meant to be around the team?
I love it. I thank Doc for it. Doc didn’t even mention me staying back. I think he wants me around the team as much as possible. It’s a new team. We have a new coach, somewhat. He came in last year. We got a couple new guys that are going to play big minutes for us and with me not playing, I’m still a big part of this team. I think me being away for the start — not to say I’d be forgotten about — but when I come back, it would have been a shock. It’s different when I’m around and I can incorporate myself a little bit more. I can get to know my new teammates. I can get to know my coaches better, that type of thing. That’s what it’s all about, us being around each other and building our chemistry together as much as we can.
(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
