Milwaukee Bucks star Khris Middleton left the team's 97-92 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday with a sprained ankle. Middleton, who had not recorded a single official stat besides two missed 3-pointers, checked out of the game for good early in the second quarter.
In the middle of the first quarter, Middleton appeared to tweak his ankle during a defensive possession. He did well initially when guarding Jalen Green in isolation, but when Green gave it up to Kevin Porter Jr. and got it right back, Middleton was a bit off balance on his closeout. He then tried to pass Green off to Jrue Holiday and recover out to Porter in the corner, and in the process his left ankle rolled slightly. Middleton hobbled a bit as he came up the floor and checked out a short time later.
He then tried to give it a go in the second quarter but was unable to continue, playing just 90 seconds in that frame.
It's unclear at this time how serious the injury is for Middleton. There did not seem to be a significant roll of his ankle and he was able to stay on the floor initially, which would suggest that it's not too serious. However, every player and incident is different and we will have to wait for further information to know for sure.
"He should be fine," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. "It's a couple of very minor things. Hopefully he'll be fine."
Holiday was also confident that Middleton will be back on the floor soon:
"I feel like this happens," Holiday said. "You see it time and time again where somebody's injured and again, he's coming back not in training camp where he kind of gets to take his time. Not that he was thrown into the fire – he prepared well and did everything he needed to – but his first game was what, Game 20, or something like that where we're juiced and fired up and ready to go. I think that he's smart, he'll take care of his body and he'll be alright."
Regardless, the Bucks are likely to be cautious given Middleton's lengthy injury history in the past year. He suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his knee during the first round of the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls last season and missed the remainder of the team's postseason run. Then, he was forced to undergo surgery to repair a ligament in his wrist during the offseason and sat out of the team's first 20 games this season.
Middleton has been hot and cold since returning to the floor. In his first four games he averaged 13.8 points, three rebounds and 5.8 assists, while shooting 36 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from 3-point land. The good news for him and the Bucks is that there's plenty of time to get him back to 100 percent and playing like his old self before the playoffs.
