MILWAUKEE -- During a timeout late in the second quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks' matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, the Bradley Center crowd erupted. Not because of a t-shirt toss, or an exciting moment of in-game entertainment, but rather because a message had just been played on the video board.
"My first game with the Milwaukee Bucks will be this Friday against the New York Knicks," said none other than Jabari Parker.
A short time later, the Bucks' PR team made their way through the press area literally handing out press releases, making for a unique way to break the news of Parker's imminent return.
Of course, this won't be Parker's first game with the Bucks, but it will be his first game since he suffered a second ACL tear last February. The No. 2 overall pick back in the 2014 Draft, Parker has played just 152 games in his NBA career due to injuries.
Parker's ailments, along with a hamstring injury to Khris Middleton, have thrown a wrench into Milwaukee's grand rebuilding plan. In the past two seasons, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Parker and Middleton played exactly zero minutes together.
In the last two seasons, Jason Kidd never had Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton on the floor together.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 22, 2018
In Kidd's four-season tenure, the trio played 11% of Milwaukee's total minutes. pic.twitter.com/yWaHJamXRa
And now the team has added Eric Bledsoe and, most recently, fired Jason Kidd. There were multiple reports that Kidd and Parker did not get along, though Parker denied those reports.
The Bucks hope that the quartet will all stay healthy for the remainder of the season, so they can get a sense of how they all fit together. This will be especially important considering Parker is set to become a restricted free agent this summer. How healthy Parker looks, in addition to how the fit is working, will go a long way towards determining whether or not the Bucks want to open up the checkbook for the talented scorer this summer.
