MIAMI — Before the Milwaukee Bucks took on the Miami Heat in NBA Cup action on Tuesday, All-Star forward Khris Middleton played 5-on-5, full-court, full-speed basketball for the first time this season at the Bucks’ practice in Miami on Monday afternoon, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN first reported Middleton’s participation in the practice.
While this does not mean Middleton will play in the Bucks’ next game Saturday against the Washington Wizards, it is one of the final steps Middleton must complete to be able to appear in his first game of the 2024-25 season. Offseason procedures on both ankles have kept him sidelined for the start of this season. Until Monday, Middleton had only gone as far as playing 3-on-3 full-court, so this is a clear advancement on his path to playing in a regular-season game.
The process to get Middleton on the floor has taken much longer than anyone in the organization expected. Bucks general manager Jon Horst praised Middleton’s work and emphasized how good Middleton looked in an on-court workout that occurred just before Horst spoke at Bucks’ media day. During the preseason, Bucks coach Doc Rivers told reporters he thought Middleton would graduate from his 3-on-3 work and be able to participate in a preseason game.
Even Middleton predicted a much quicker return to the floor.
“Having a successful season out there is playing damn near 82 games,” Middleton told The Athletic during the Bucks’ training camp visit to UC-Irvine. “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.”
The team has not given any official word on a timeline for Middleton, so the journey to return to play is not over. But for Middleton and the Bucks, this is a positive step after his progress seemed to stall at playing 3-on-3 for the last month.
The Bucks are 8-9 this season without Middleton, having won six of their last seven games following a 2-8 start.
(Photo of Doc Rivers, Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton: Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images)
