MILWAUKEE — Three-time All-Star Khris Middleton plans to make his season debut on Friday night against the Boston Celtics, league sources confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN was first to report.
After offseason procedures on both of his ankles, Middleton missed the first 21 games of the season. Before the Bucks played the Miami Heat on Nov. 26, Middleton participated in a five-on-five session for the first time. Since fully getting back on the floor, Middleton participated in two more five-on-five sessions, including a session on Wednesday morning before the Bucks’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks. As long as Middleton doesn’t suffer any sort of discomfort or setbacks in the next 36 hours, Middleton will play for the first time this season on Friday.
“He’s working his butt off,” coach Doc Rivers said before Wednesday night’s game. “He’s doing all the stuff that he’s supposed to do, he’s just yet to get on the floor. We feel like that’s coming soon and you’ve heard that before, so we’re just hopeful that it’s really soon.”
During training camp, Middleton told The Athletic that a successful season for him would include playing at least “70, 75 games,” and Rivers told reporters that he was hopeful Middleton would play in one of the Bucks’ preseason games, but Middleton’s journey to game action took much longer than anyone in the organization expected.
The Bucks started the season poorly with a 2-8 showing, but they responded recently by winning nine of their last 11 games and clawing their way back over to an 11-10 record, which currently puts them fifth in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.
“Anybody who wants to play, and Khris is one of those [guys], they’re frustrated,” Rivers said. “That’s mentally challenging. You see your team playing, and although we’re playing well right now, I imagine when we were really struggling and he wasn’t playing, that had to be really hard for him. You want to help your team, and he knows he can.”
While dealing with myriad injuries last season, Middleton averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 27 minutes per game while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from behind the 3-point line. Even if Middleton only plays limited minutes as he returns, his presence has typically provided a major boost to the Bucks.
With Middleton on the floor last season, the Bucks outscored opponents by 3.7 points per 100 possessions. When Middleton shared the floor with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the Bucks outscored opponents by 16.3 points per 100 possessions.
Currently, per Cleaning the Glass, lineups with Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the floor are being outscored by .1 points per 100 possessions.
Required reading
- Khris Middleton completes first 5-on-5 session of season, nears return from ankle injuries
- Bucks’ Khris Middleton: ‘Trending in the right direction every day’
- Bucks after 10 games: What’s gone wrong early, and do they have time to fix it?
(Photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
